


The Broken Hearts Club

by Hades_queen_13



Series: Eunoia [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Car Accidents, Cheating, Depression, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff and Angst, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Insomnia, M/M, Manipulation, Memory Loss, Mutual Pining, Nico is a Dork, Panic Attacks, Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Past Character Death, Paul Blofis is a Hero, Pining, Pining Jason, Pining Percy, Possible smut, SO MUCH SARCASM, Sadness, Sarcasm, dear god, i dunno, ignorance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 21:51:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 21
Words: 60,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5106971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hades_queen_13/pseuds/Hades_queen_13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows the name. Those four syllables that have the blood of every girl boiling. Eyes that make a shiver go up your spine no matter who you are. Voice like silk and a face that would give Aphrodite's best creations a run for their money. To be with him is an honor for anyone, though it never lasts for long. He's always unsatisfied, always wants more. He never expects to get what he wants in the form of a backtalking, sass mouthing, eye rolling, sweater wearing freshman who spends more time with his head in the cloud than in the actual hell known as reality.<br/>Percy Jackson has always gone his merry way, leaving a string of broken hearts behind him. Maybe this is his punishment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There's a certain innocence about falling in love, the kind that makes your stomach tie into knots when the person comes near you. You can't think straight, can't even look at them sometimes because its so intense, like an inferno that only gets brighter.  Its a ridiculous notion to say that there's someone in the world who hasn't felt it before. 

Unfortunately you would be wrong to think such a thing. 

* * *

He has never been okay with the idea of love. The man who supposedly loved his mother, left her when she was pregnant. The man she's with now says he loves her, but treats her like a slave. 

No, he decided a long time ago that love was not his thing. Love led people astray. He'd seen it countless times in movies. An ordinary day turned to chaos because two people meet. It's dumb, the whole thing.

He's found something better, more entertaining.

Breaking hearts is fun, he finds that out quick. The way they look when he walks away, how hopelessly easy it is to manipulate them, like puppets on a string all lined up just for him. He leads them along, sheep to a hungry wolf, he devours them, leaves them broken hearted and empty. He's always polite, always chivalrous, like any real man should be. He does not abuse them in any way. He breaks them with his smile instead, a grin that shatters them completely. He complements them until they fall like dominos over his feet. They are his to command, his to control. And with his piercing gaze and beautifully put together words, he ruins them.

Never in his life would he have ever guessed that someday soon he'd be the one getting ruined.

 


	2. Black Sweaters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new kid is volitle, hostile, angry.  
> In the back of his mind, Percy thinks he's found a new toy.
> 
> This one's gonna be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So today I decided to check on this story for shits and giggles, and nearly had a heart attack. It was only the first chapter! Oh my gosh guys! I'm totally blushing right now I swear!

"Did you hear?" Jason asks, plopping down next to Percy at lunch, his pizza almost bouncing out of his tray. The blonde looks way too happy to be real, especially considering the fact that he pretty much bombed that last science test. There's no doubt in Percy's mind that his friend got laid.

"Hear what?" Percy asks as he snatches a ranch packet from Jason's tray for his salad. Jason grunts and staresbat his ranch packet longingly, before he answers.

"New kid came in today. All the way from sunny California. LA to be exact. I had gym with him today. He gave Hedge the finger. Twice."

Percy nods, wincing in slight disgust as Jason pours ranch on his pizza and bites into it.  _Gross._ "Sounds fun. What's he look like?"

"Adorable." Jason says. "Long black hair, black eyes, tan, kind of reminds me of one of those typical California beach guys in the movies. You know, the one the girl falls for only to realize that he's just another bad boy and the one she was looking for was there all along?" Jason laughs, and Percy laughs with him because movies like that aren't real. Love doesn't happen like that, if it happens at all. Still, the new kid has his interest peaked, something that doesn't happen often. He decides to look into it. What could go wrong?

 

 

When Jason had said that the new kid was adorable, Percy had been skeptical. Everyone knows that it's a rule for boys to be handsome, dashing. Not adorable.

But that rule was apparently discarded when the universe created Nicolas di Angelo.

"Nico." The boy corrects, when the social studies teacher, Mrs. A gets his name wrong. "It's just Nico." Mrs. A nods, dismissing Nico to his seat, Percy watching the entire way.   


_He is adorable._  Percy thinks as he watches Nico sink into his seat. The frown on that little cherubric face makes Percy want to squish his cheeks together and coo at him. The way his hoodie kind of swallows him up makes him even more adorable. Of course the raging attitude he has kind of ruins it though.

"What?" He barks, voice small but powerful. "Can you quit staring at me? I'm not an alien."

"You're adorable. " Some kid in the back of the room ssays. Nico growls and turns in his chair to face him.

"I'm also not in the mood for your bullcrap so try anything and see what happens." The room goes silent and Nico turns back to face the front of the room, where Mrs. A is writing something on the board. 

Percy likes this new kid.

* * *

"Hey there pretty boy." A voice croons in his ear and Nico flinches, dropping his lunch and whipping around to glare at the boy behind him. Nico sizes him up quickly. Blonde, tall, muscles in every place imaginable, probably on a sports team, and therefore probably cocky as hell. 

In other words, a pain in his ass.

"What?" Nico growls, bending to pick up his spilled lunch and silently fuming over his floor pizza. 

"Nothing." The boy says, hand getting way to close to Nico's butt to be comfortable. "My name's Mitchell. I was wondering if you'd like to-"

"Never in a million fucking years." Nico says, throwing his lunch away. "I'm not going on a date with you."

"Why not?"

"Because you like an ass hole and I don't have the time or the patience to spend on someone who's just gonna end up being a mistake. I've had enough mistakes for a lifetime."

The boy grabs at his arm and memories pour back into his head. Someone grabbing him. Holding him down. Someone screaming. His body moves on its own, flipping the blonde boy onto his back, punching him.

"Mr. di Angelo! " a voice yells at him, shoving him from his flashback, and knocking him into reality. The principal is standing above him, looking frightening and frightened at the same time. "Come with me." She says.

Nico stands, muttering an apology to the boy on the floor, before he follows the principal.

* * *

Percy watches the whole thing, and in the back of his mind, he thinks that he's found a new toy.

_This is going to be fun._

 

 


	3. Keep the Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's used to it. To moving due to an ever growing problem involving his temper. Used to being left to his own devices because his dad really has no clue how to handle a temperamental freshman. Used to being the new kid, being stared at because he's so out of place. Hes completely used to it by now.
> 
> That doesn't mean he's okay with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap I looked at my inbox this morning. I'm so freaking excited guys, you don't even know. Oh my gods. BTW can someone tell me how to change my story so it doesn't say that it's completed? Cause it isn't and that's confusing some people.

_Stop looking at me._

_Please._

_Look away._

Nico wants to scream. And he's about five seconds from doing so when final bell rings. Then again, that only makes him want to scream even more.

It's been the same all day. He walks into class, announces his presence, tells everyone who he is and where he came from, takes a seat in an empty chair and waits for the bell. He can feel them. Eyes from every student in the room at one point or another. He knows why. He's the new kid, the commodity, the one who sticks out in this sea of grey. Him being here means a new friend, new conversations, new opinions. A new lamb in a den of lions. And lions they are.

Every period, someone has offered to help him, tried to engage in friendly conversation.

In homeroom it was aa girl with bleach blonde hair and green eyes. "My name is Melody. Do you want some help getting around school?" Nico had politley declined, and taken his seat in the back of the room.

Second period came with a boy in a Pittsburg Steelers jersey who wanted to help him sort out his schedule. Again, Nico declined and said he would handle it himself.

Third period, he realized he needed help. Melody was quick to swoop in and guide him to room 220- though how she knew of his navigation issues, he had no clue. Nico thanked her, and let her drag him to sit beside her during class.

Fourth period was torturous. Not just because it was gym (though that was a factor, because who the hell has gym right before lunch anyway) but also because his gym locker refused to open. Of course the P.E teacher made him run anyway, and if Mr. Hedge got flipped the bird a few times, nobody had to know.

Lunch is by far the worst. He has nowhere to sit, nobody to sit with. He's the last person in the line for hot lunch so by the time he gets there, all the good slices of pizza are gone. Oh, and did he mention that he punched the guy who tried to flirt with him in the nose? Four times? And got taken to the principal? Yeah, that happened.

You'd think that by now, his day would start to get a little better, the bad luck would balance itself. It doesn't

"You punched a kid in the nose?" Hazel screeches at him as they ride the bus home. Nico flinches in his spot next to her. "Yes?"

"Why on earth would you punch him?"

"He grabbed my arm! You know how I am about that!"

Hazel glances at his arm guiltily before she apologizes. After a moment of silence between them- that gets filled by the other kids on the bus- she speaks up again. "Mom's gonna kill you when she hears about this."

"She's not my mother." Nico says quietly.

They don't talk for the rest of the bus ride home.

* * *

Persephone (yes, that is really her name) starts in on him as soon as he gets home. He doesn't even get five minutes to gripe about its only Monday and he has four more days until the weekend before she descends on him in her fiery rage.

"You got sent to the principal's office on the first day of school?!"

And yeah, maybe he should have seen that coming. After all he can see why that would upset someone. But at the moment, he just wants this woman to get out of his room. "Yes." He says in his best uncaring, monotone voice.

"Would you like to tell me why?" Persephone asks, paying no attention to the fact that Nico's dad, her husband, is right behind her, trying to talk.

"He grabbed my arm." Nico sees his dad clench. Sees his eyes flick up, full of worry. Persephone is quite the opposite.

"You sent a child to the nurse because he touched your arm?" She says, foot tapping, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose, the way she looks when she's about to lose it.

 "Yes."

Persephone sighs. "Nico, I'm really trying to understand you. I am. But I can't deal with this. Not right now. You're grounded until further notice." She walks out.

Grounded. Good. Nico doesn't have anywhere to go anyway.

* * *

"Hey." Nico's dad says as he closes the door to his son's bedroom behind him. Nico is laying on his side facing the wall, back to the door. Hades knows what he's doing.

"Pretending to be asleep isn't going to save you this time." Nico sits up and rolls over and sighs. His eyes are red and puffy. He's been crying. "I hate her."

"Hate is a pretty strong word." Hades says as he sits on the end of Nico's bed. 

"That's why I used it." Nico says.

"She's not so bad once you get used to her."

"You're just saying that because you married her. From my point of view, she's Satan's right hand woman." 

Hades chuckles. "Really? Satan?"

Nico stares at him.

"Okay. Look. I know you hate her. But can't you at least to get along?"

"She doesn't know anything about me. She doesn't know why I really punched that kid. She'll never understand." Nico folds in himself, knees presses to his chest, arms wrapped around them. Hades knows why hes doing it. Protection.

"I get it." He says. "I was there when the whole thing went down, I understand. But this is my wife, I'm a little torn here."

"Aren't you always?"

"Nico, that's hardly fair."

"No." Nico says. "You know what's hardly fair? Dragging me out here to be with some woman I've never met, who hates me by the way, not to mention my unhealthy temper. You know what isn't fair? Being on my own here, when I could be anywhere else. That's what's not fair."

"Hazel isn't all that bad." Hades tries to say.

"Hazel also isn't the wicked bitch of the west." Nico smirks.

"Language." Hades says. "Just promise me you'll at least try to keep the peace."

"Fine." Nico groans, smiling when Hades ruffles his hair.

He gets the feeling he's gonna have this talk again.

 

 


	4. The Beginning of the Inevitable

"Percy!"

_Not again._

"Percy, wait up!"

Percy turns to face the girl who's been calling for him for the last five minutes. Her hair is short and choppy, eyes beaming a bright sky blue. Her skin is tanned, her smile too bright to be considered true. She's already been broken, just another toy added to the pile. If Percy's memory serves him correctly, her name is Carmen. When they dated, she was real clingy, always wanting to be held, but always willing to please.

How adorably pathetic.

"Hello Carmen." Percy says, hiding his slight annoyance with a warm smile. "Can I help you?"

Carmen's eyes practically gaze over, face locked in a mix between adoration and surprise, as if she didn't expect Percy to remember her name. "Y-yeah. I- I was wondering if maybe you could help the band put up our drum set. Our concert is coming up and the band director wants us to practice in the auditorium, but the drums are heavy and none of the drummers can lift them. So I was hoping that you would help."

Her eyes cast themselves downward to the floor, an immediate sign of submission. That only makes Percy smile brighter, intent on making this girl even more broken than she already was. "Of course I'll help. I love watching the band play."

Carmen's face lights up, eyes glazing even further as she falls even deeper into Percy's control. "Great! Um, follow me!"

Percy smirks as he follows her, pleased with how quickly the can wrap people around his finger.  _So easy. Like leading a lamb to a lion's den._

* * *

When Carmen had said that the drums were heavy, Percy knew they weren't. And he was right. They weren't that heavy at all. But lifting them is a lot harder when you're distracted. And the new kid served as a pretty good distraction. Percy watched him tune his bass and look generally lost as the rest of the band set up. It was clear he had no clue what was going on, having come too late in the year to actually have knowledge of what was happening. He fidgeted, constantly, glancing around at the other students as if he wants to help, but has no idea what to do with himself.

Is it strange that Percy finds that adorably endearing?

Apparently the boy thinks so, because Percy makes the mistake of staring too long and when the boy- his name started with an N, though it slips Percy's mind- notices, his confused and uncomfortable gaze is morphed into an annoyed glare. Sea green clashes with midnight black before Percy realizes that he has indeed been staring too long and has to blink. So he does. When his eyes open agopen, they land right back on the boy, who's being monopolized by a pretty blonde girl. Percy knows this girls name well enough. Melody Harte. Enthusiastic. Plays trumpet is he remembers correctly. On the volleyball team after trying and failing to be on the softball team in middle school. They went out last year

Melody gestures to him and Percy makes a show of lifting the drum and carrying it, just so he can see the line of red that makes its appearance on Melody's face. He watches in his peripheral as she shakes her head and goes back to talking.

Once the drums are set up, Percy says goodbye to Carmen- who, with a blush on her face and a giggle in her voice, thanks him. Then, he walks as slowy as he can to class, just so he can see the new kid and the rest of the band get set up and begin to play.

* * *

Nico mulls over what Melody had said to him for the rest of band. And the rest of the day if he's honest.

"Oh no." She'd said, sliding into a seat next to Nico- without his permission might he add. "Perseus has his eyes on you."

The first thought to hit him is who the hell would name their kid after a dead Greek guy? Then again, his middle name is almost as terrible so he can't really judge.

His second thought is who the hell Perseus is, because with a name like that, there's no way Nico hasn't heard of him by now.

"Perseus is the guy you were just having a staring contest with." Melody pipes in, because apparently he'd said that last thought out loud. "He's bad news, and if you're smart, you'll stay away from him."

"Why?"

Melody takes a while to answer, too busy staring at the person in question- okay is that guy really flexing that much just to put a drum up- to notice that Nico was talking. When she does finally get her head out the clouds, she answers with a grave tone. "He's what you'd call a player. Dated almost every girl in the school, and two months ago, he started on the guys."

Nico frowns. "So...he's a manwhore.

" No." Melody says. "To be a manwhore, you have to actually have sex. As far as I know, he's still a virgin. But he has this way of ruining people. Everything about him is appealing. His voice, looks, attitude. He breaks every almost person he goes out with. My older sister, Ella was one of them. Her freshman year, she was happy and flamboyant. Now, she spends most of her time in the library, staying away from the jock table and basically any social gathering."

"Okay, so why should I be afraid?" Nico asks, not seeing the point in this at all.

"He was staring right at you. And you glared at him. He takes that as a challenge. And the last thing you wanna do is challenge Percy Jackson."

"Lemme guess." Nico sighs. "He wins at everything."

 "Not just that." Melody said. "He tears them apart just by looking at them. One glance and he has you. You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this. But I've been living here all my life and I've seen what he can do to a person. You're one of my only friends. I don't want you to end up like the others." Melody gestured to another table, across the room, where there were a few girls sitting around. At first glance, they looked normal. But as Nico looked closer, he could see the dark rings around their eyes. Their eyes are hollow, and they look absolutely broken, as if they don't know what to do without someone telling them to do something. "See? Those are just a few of the girls Percy's gotten to."

Nico lets his jaw drop for a second, taking in the new information. "Stay away from Percy. Got it."

* * *

Nico quickly notices that staying away from Percy is going to be harder than he originally thought. At first, he thought he could just avoid him. Walk the other way when he comes near, hide when he tries to look for him. Melody said that he would be Percy's new target. A challenge for him. But he'd never thought he'd end up being hunted like an animal. Percy's relentless. He finds him after class, stares at him during lunch. It's disturbing to be honest. He hates attention anyway but when its just one person, its even worse. He's got to rid of him.

 

 

 


	5. The Monday Complication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico thinks about how terrible Mondays are, and deals with an evergrowing problem. Well, attempts to deal with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I've been busy trying to make a new chapter for my other Pjo story. And writer's block is a bitch I tell you. But I did it. I got the chapter finished. Can I get a whoop whoop!!

Mondays are the bane of Nico's existence. They take the fourth spot on his list of hated things, right after wet socks, bad breath and slow wifi.

It is a well known fact that Mondays are terrible. The evidence is everywhere. On the internet, even in real life. On Tuesdays, people are a little less sluggish. They move a bit faster, with a little more pep in their step. Wednesdays are even better. Being the middle of the week, Wednesday is seen as a congratulatory point. Wednesday means that you've survived half the week and there's just a bit more to go. Thursdays are full of excitement. Everyone's a little happier because of what comes the next day. Thursday is full of anticipation. And everyone knows that out of all the days of the work week, Friday is the absolute best. Friday is the start of the weekend, the day when you can walk out class with middle fingers up and not have a care in the world. Fridays are the holy grail of week days.

If course, Nico sympathizes. It's not Monday's fault that it sucks more than a thirsty whore. Monday probably doesn't even know why people hate him so much. He's probably sitting in some corner somewhere windering wny people make angry comments when he rolls around and why everyone in existence wishes he weren't even there. And if Nico could, he'd find Monday and give him a great big 'ol hug.

Of course, that also doesn't stop him from cursing like a sailor when his weekend ends. 

He'd spent the entirety of Saturday cooped up in the house watching rereuns of Teen Titans (the _good_ Teen Titans, not whatever they have on now) and catching up on Steven Universe. He ate junk food, and made a giant nest in the living room with all the pillows in the house. Nobody bothered him and nobody said anything. All was good.

Sunday was even better. The hoodie that he ordered from Amazon showed up- thank you two day shipping- came in and he and his dad went to the mall and made irresponsible choices with money. Anything they didn't need but had a weird twinge to buy, was bought. They ate ice cream, bought pizza from the food court, and went all out at the Godiva chocolate store by the fountain. Nico bought a pair of sneakers to go with his hoodie, along with a new pair of earbuds- because with the way things were going with his stepmother, he figured he'd need them. Hades decided to just stick to buying food, and the occasional weird kiosk item. (Why he decided he needed an airbrush art t-shirt, Nico will never know.) All in all, they just had a good time, ending their father- son bonding day with dinner at a Chinese restaurant because Hades felt that if he was going to gorge on fat food, he'd do it right.

Of course, Persephone had to ruin it by scolding them the second they got in the house, complaining about how her husband was acting like a child. "That money you let your son blow on a pair of fifty dollar shoes could have gone toward paying a bill." She'd said at one point, making Nico clutch at the box of high tops in defense. Nico figured that their bonding time was over, that his dad would go right back to being the obedient husband he always was. But when Hades stuffed an egg roll in his wife's hand, winked at his son and sauntered off to stuff his face with candy, Nico smiled to himself.

He fell asleep with the taste of chocolate on his tongue.

Then Monday came.

Nico has said it once and he will gladly say it again. Mondays suck. Everyone knows it. The world, the universe, the man upstairs. Everyone but him apparently, because he woke up thinking it was going to be a good day. He didn't wake up late, and Persephone didnt gripe at him. (In fact, she wasn't even home. She'd gone to work early.) By some miracle, he still had candy left over from the day before so he could sneak some in class. And he even found that pencil he'd lost a few months back when they were still moving. (The lucky one that he used to pass all his tests and was convinced it held some kind if magic properties.) 

But the moment he stepped out of the shower, the Monday curse hit him like a runaway truck. His toothbrush dropped in the toilet when he went for the brush, forcing him to wake up his dad for a new one. (That was an ordeal within itself because like his son, Hades did not appreciate being woken up before he was ready.) Nico's hoodie mysteriously vanished into thin air, because when he went to grab it, it wasn't there even though he knew he specifically placed it on his door knob the night before. (He suspected his stepmother's involvement in this one because she'd told him twice to stop ordering things from Amazon.) He had to settle for his dad's aviator jacket that was too big on him.

In the end, he ended up running to catch the bus, leaving him breathless, irritated and swallpwed up by his dad's jacket. Even worse, Hazel wasn't riding with him because she had a doctor's appointment early in the morning. Nico stared out the window silently during the ride to school.

School isn't much better. He gets bumped around a lot in the halls, resulting in him dropping his books, three times. No one even stoos to help him, and four people step on his homework assignment. 

In gym, they're playing volleyball and Nico gets hit in the head at least four times because the girl on his team is kind of terrible. But so is he, so he figures he can't really judge. 

Lunch comes with its own little nightmare, as the cafeteria is serving that gross broccoli pizza (who puts broccoli on pizza) and Nico forgot his candy at home. Plus he feels like he's being watched the second he enters the lunchroom. 

Remember how Nico said that Mondays are the fourth thing on his most hated list? Well number five is attention. He hates it. The eyes always watching him, staring, waiting for him to fuck up so the people can laugh. Attention has gotten him nowhere but the principal's office. He does his best to stay away from it. 

He avoids any social gathering like parties or football games. He keeps his friends circle small- that one isn't too hard, as he's never in one place long enough to make a large circle of friends. He stays away from talent shows and any other even that involves being in front of a crowd. He avoids it completely, and by doing so, he stays in his comfort zone.

So imagine how completely uncomfortable he feels with he looks up and sees sea green eyes boring into his skull.

It's not hard for him to know who's watching him. The person has been doing it since that day in band and to be honest he's getting pretty sick of it. So instead of hiding like he usually would, he gets right on up and stalks across the cafeteria to Percy's table. 

The second he gets there, all conversation stops, all eyes trained on him like spotlights. Or maybe the crosshairs of a sniper rifle. Nico has a few seconds to glance around the table and see who else is here, and he does so quickly.

The first person he notices is a blonde girl. Her eyes are startlingly gray, almost silver. Her skin is tan and the look on her face kind of makes Nico wanna run for cover. She looks extremely intellegent, as if she could take down an army in her ming with just a few strategic moves. 

The next person is slightly less intimidating. He's blonde as well, with a little scar on his lip that Nico guesses might be from a fight. His eyes are this sort of baby blue color, jaw line irritatingly perfect, hair blonde but not bleach blonde. He reminds Nico of a blonde superman.

The girl next to superman is even less intimidating. Her skin is a soft tan, hair a chocolaty brown with a blue feather in it. Her eyes don't really have a specific color, more like a rainbow. Or a kalidescope. She's wearing a Hello Kitty shirt and faded jeans with a pair of galaxy sneakers.

Next to kalidescope girl, is a red head, and Nico's back to being slightly intimidated. Her eyes are a creepy shade of green, her red hair wild and untamed- though it's clear that she trued to tame it by putting into a ponytail. She has freckles going across the bridge of her nose, which is twitching for whatever reason. Her clothes are spattered with paint, her hands not in much better shape but despite how thrown together she looks, she's still kind of scary.

The last person Nico notices is the one he came to talk to. Percy. He's watching Nico hesitantly, as if he doesn't know what to do. His eyes are still a shade of green that should be illegal to have, his skin still unfairly tanned, hair ruffled and wild. Today he's dressed in a Coca-Cola shirt, with the design faded a bit and a pair of jeans. There's a plaid shirt tied around his waist that Nico suspects was knce lart of Percy's actual outfit but was discarded.  His ratty Converses don't match a thing he's wearing, but somehow they still work in his favor.

"What?" He asks, breaking Nico's concentration, aand staring right at him, eyes wide like a questioning child. "Do you need something?"

Nico clears his throat, so his voice doesn't come out weird because he feels this weird lump in there that popped up when Percy looked at him. "Yeah." He says, meekly at first before he gets his act together. "I need you to quit watching me. You've been doing it for a while and its creeping me out. Stop." He doesn't wait for an answer as he stalks off, but his annoyance level is still through the roof. He can still feel those eyes concentrating on him.

* * *

Tuesday is slightly better than Monday in terms of terrible- ness. He finds his hoodie, and Hazel rides ths bus with him. They spend the ride, listening to music from her phone. He only droos his books once and in gym, he does pretty well. He still gets hit by a crap load of volleyballs but since it's Tuesday- not Monday- he's not so irritated about it. Coach Hedge even congratulates him for getting better. (In reality, Hedge just calls him less insulting nicknames, but he'll take what he can get.)

Lunch rolls around and Melody plops down next to him, still as peppy and vibrant as ever. Her hair is braided back so it stays out of her eyes- an issue she complains about daily. She's wearing a Three Days Grace t-shirt and baggy jeans, a shocking change to the flowery, glittery way she usually dresses. "What's with that?" Nico asks, commenting on her strange outfit choice.

Melody shrugs. "Figured it was time I stopped dressing like a twelve year old and grow up. I'm going to school, I'm not trying to impress any of these bastards. Plus, I like this shirt."

"You woke up late didn't you?" Nico smirks, seeing right through that lie because that's the same excuse he always uses. Melody gives a knowing groan and goes into how she needs a new alarm clock because her's it a piece of crap. It's then that Nico catches it. That weird shiver down his spine that lets him know he's being watched. He rolls his eyes and joins in Melody's rant.

"You should ask your dad for a phone. They have alarms. Loud ones." Nico suggests.

Melody scoffs. "I've tried that, but the man insists I'm too young."

"Aren't you fifteen?"

"Yeah." Melody says. "But try telling him that. My dad is more stubborn than an old donkey. Or my mother."

Nico tries to respond to that, he really does. But the feeling gets more intense, as if whoever is watching him is tryingto bore holes into the back of his skull. He can't ignore it anymore. "Excuse me for a second." He says getting up and handing Melody some candy to calm her down because her rant got her fired up.

"Where are you going?" Melody asks, as he stomps towards Percy's table, ready for blood to be spilt.

"To wring someone's neck."

Today, Nico doesn't pay attention to the other kids at Percy's table, instead focusing on the problem at hand. Unfortunately, the problem is looking rather good in those skinny jeans. Nico mentally slaps himself before he starts in on him. "I thought I told you to quut staring at me." He growls.

Percy smiles sweetly, innocently,  and Nico has remind himself that this is a bad guy. _He breaks people. I can't let myself be the next victim._ "I'm sorry." Percy says in a tone that says he's definitely  _not_ sorry. "I can't help it. The human eye is drawn to beautiful things. I couldn't look away if I tried."

On the outside, Nico's fuming. But in the inside, he has to contain himself because damn that was smooth. No wonder girls fall for him easily. He might as well be named Prince Charming.

But if Percy's Prince Charming, than wouldn't that make him Cinderella? 

Okay, ew.

"Well I don't care what crappy excuse you give me, I asked you nicely to stop. Next time, I won't be so friendly. Unless you would like to take a visit to the nurse's office, I suggest you cut it out." Like the first time, Nico doesn't wait for a reply. And just like the first time, the feeling doesn't falter as he walks away.

* * *

Wednesday is way better than Tuesday for a multitude of reasons. Nico actually wakes up early, so he has time to eat breakfast and walk to the bus stop- you don't understand, that's pretty big for him. He has a substitute in the one class he didn't do his homework in, and the sub doesn't ask for it.

In gym he actually hits a ball over the net, earning a point for his team and getting some high fives for doing so.  And his dad drops by to pick him up from school for lunch. They go to Subway and Nico gags at the olives his dad puts on his sandwich while his dad gags at the yellow peppers Nico puts on his own. They agree to disagree on tastes in sandwiches.

To make things even better, Percy doesn't bother him at all. He doesn't feel like he's being watched. Yep, today is a good day.

Until he opens his locker.

Nico fiddles with the uncooperative lock, whispering soothing words to make it open while silently reminding himself that he needs a new one. When he does finally get the thing open, he falters.

"Who the hell put a note in my locker?"

There is indeed a note in his locker, stuck between the little slots. Nico rips it out and opens it, reading it before he groans pitifully. 

"What is it?" Melody asks as she shows up next to him, with her things all packed and ready to go. Nico hands her the note. "Nico." She reads aloud. "I realize that you have some unpleasant thought of me, but I'd like you to know that I meant what I said. P. Who the heck is P?"

"Who do you think?" Nico sighs as he points at Percy, who's lurking around the corner, talking to a blonde girl. Percy glances at him catching his gaze before he winks at him and gies back to his conversation. 

The lecture he gets from Melody could rival the one he receives from Persephone. 

* * *

"Percy, I need to talk to you." Annabeth's voice calls to him from the hall. He turns from his locker, smiling down at her. "Yes?"

"First of all, don't even try that smile on me, you know it won't work." Annabeth says. "Second of all, I think you should leave this kid alone. He seems pretty pissed at you." 

"Okay.." Percy says, not gettimg the hint. "I don't see what the issue is, I'm just having a little fun."

"Well that fun is going to get you hurt." Annabeth reasons. "Didn't you hear him? He threatened you. Doesn't that faze you at all?"

"Nope." Percy says walking off, ending the conversation. 

_That just makes it more fun._

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Lord, what hellish nightmare have I gotten my little grump flower into this time?


	6. The Social Pyramid Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico ponders his place in the social structure of high school and has another run in with Percy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hell yeah! Two chapters in one day. That's what I'm talking about! Thank the gods for free time!

There's a system to high school. A system of social classes that everyone obeys without even thinking about it. A pyramid, if you will, and everyone knkws where they belong on it. At the very top of the pyramid, are the teacher, for obvious reasons. They're adults, therefore they have all the power.

  
After the teachers, come the seniors. The elites, the elders. They of course have their own social statuses but that's a story for a different time. They rule the school, with an iron- and often, well manicured- fist.  
Next, come the juniors and the sophomores. They're more or less the midde ground. The two grades that most kids spend trying to find themselves out and see if they can really be popular. Not that big of a deal.

  
The freshmen are at the very bottom of the social pyramid. Being the new kids, they're often viewed as enthusiastic children and are usually treated as such by their older fellow students.  
  
Now, comes the complicated stuff: the social groups.

  
First on the list, are the jocks. The testosterone filled, adrenaline junkies who take pride in getting touchdowns and baskets more than they care about about their grades. They're usually the bad guys in every high school movie ever, the ones who pick on the outcast main character. Usually, those movies are right, becahse the jocks do take joy in harassing their underclassmen.

  
Next, come the preps. Mostly full of cheerleaders, the kids in this group are very popular. They wear the trendiest clothes and shoes, have the most active Snapchat accounts and usually get in trouble the most. They like to be the center of attention at all times and have no problem showing it.

  
Then come the Nerds, the kids who care about grades more than their own sanity. They couldn't care less about fashion or social statuses. All that matters to them is their GPA. Most of the nerds are on the honor roll or are in one advanced course or another. Nerds are also usually prime victims of harassment from jocks. 

After the nerds, come the outcasts. The kids that nobody really talks to because they look scary or intimidating. They like rock music and pissing off the preps. They also have a knack for causing fights and are especially known for causing trouble.

The social networking of high school is simple once you get the hang of it. Everyone has their own groups, and everyone stays in them, never tryung to be something they aren't. (This isn't some Disney movie where the nerd becomes the queen bee in a matter if days.) But most importantly, everyone knows where they belong.

Everyone but Nico. 

He thinks about this as he sits alone at lunch, hunched over his chicken sandwich and sweet peaches. Every once in a while, he glances around at the rest of the lunchroom, watching as the other students mingle. It's easy to tell which social groups are which. 

The jocks are rowdy, throwing food at each other and laughing their asses off when one of them chokes on their food. At the table next to them are the preps. Some of them have trickled over to the jock table, sitting in laps of the school's athletes and giggling like bimbos. The rest of them are sitting at their table either gossiping, taking selfies to upload on Instagram, or eating their glorious packed lunches.

Off to the side, by the windows are the assorted groups of nerds. The band geeks and choir lovers are sitting on the window sills, feet propped up with earbuds in their ears, either watching something on YouTube with the school's wifi or blasting music. The regular nerds- you know, honor roll- are at their table, some talking with the band geeks or finishing homework that's probably due next period. (No matter how much of a nerd you are, everyone procrastinates sometimes.) The drama geeks are hanging out next to the band geeks, reciting lines of a script because apparently there's a play coming up soon and auditions are in two days. One of them is even reciting cheesy Shakesperian pickup lines to his girlfriend. (Nico can hear him, by some curse if every god in existence.) 

On the other side of the cafeteria, are the outcasts. Most of them are donned in black clothing, and if it isn't black, it's gray. Some are wearing Converses, others in Vans, a few in combat boots. A couple of the outcast girls are wearing makeup, black eyeliner that makes them look just a little doe eyed. Like the band geeks, most of them have their ears plugged with earbuds. And a few of them are starting ti make jeers at the preps. 

Everyone is where they belong. Except Nico. 

That's the problem with being a new kid. You don't really know where you belong. Nico certainly has no clue, though he does have an idea what tables he will never sit at.

The jock table for example. Nico doesn't do sports. He doesn't even run that often, and if he does, it's because he has no choice. (His motto is, "If you see me running, you should run with me because odds are, I'm running for my life.") 

Another good example is the preps table. Nico doesn't really like fashion all that much. He wears what he likes and doesn't give a damn. (He's going to school, who is he trying to impress?) He also doesn't care all that much for social media. He knows what Snapchat is, but he doesn't have one. He does have a Tumblr, though he usually just likes and reposts stuff. He also has a Facebook. Again, never really posts anything. Being a prep also involves being around people, which is yet another thing Nico doesn't really do.

Nico guesses that he might be able to fit in with the band geeks. After all, he is in band. Then again, he could fit in with the nerds too. He's pretty intelligent, and he did take eighth grade math when he was in sixth. But being a nerd involves work. So, no. Being a drama geek is out. He hates attention, why would he want to be on stage? The outcasts could also be his group. Most of his clothes are black and gray, with the occasional mix of color in there because Hazel insists that her brother be a little peppy and a little less mopey all the time. He also likes rock music and pissing off popular kids. (He's gotten suspended multiple times due to that guilty pleasure.)

Maybe he would do well with the choir kids, if it weren'tfor the fact that he doesn't like to sing out loud. Especially near people.  Or crowds. He knows he has a nice voice- Hazelhas told him multiple times that he sounds like a majestic eagle. He just doesn't like to broadcast it to other people. He prefers to showcase his talentat home. When there's no one there. With his earbuds in, volume on full blast so he can't hear himself.

Yep.

He has no clue where he belongs. So he sits alone.

For about 47 seconds.

"Well don't you look lonely." A familiar voice says next to him, making him jump and twist to find the owner. Then he frowns. "What?"

Percy scoffs. "Is that how you say hello?"

"To you, yes. What do you want?" Nico says, picking at his peaches with his plastic fork.

"Just wanted to keep you some company. You looked lonely." Percy said as he sat down next to Nico and flashed that lightbulb smile. The one that could part clouds and resolved wars. "I hate seeing lonely people. It just makes me sad. And I especially hate seeing someone so-"

"Weird? Small? Lonely? Creepy? Downright horrifying?" Nico suggests, using all the words he's ever been called as insults.

"Adorable." Percy smirks, and Nico swears he doesn't blush. Not even a little.

"I'm a guy." Nico says. "Guys can't be adorable, it's a rule of life."

"That's actually what I thought when I first saw you. But you changed my mind immediately. You, my friend, are adorable."

"I'm not your friend." Nico spits, adding a little extra acid in his voice because Melody's voice is still ringing in his head.  _He breaks people with smiles and compliments. Stay away from him. He's dangerous._  "You don't even know me."

"I want to."

"Too bad." Nico gets up and throws his lunch away. He's lost his appetite. 

"Oh come on." Percy pouts, following him quickly. "Why won't you just talk to me?"

"Because I've heard about you." Nico explains. "I've heard about what you've done to people. You are a player. Someone who manipulates people for joy and leaves them to rot in their own sadness. And I'm sorry but I don't want a thing to do with that. I've been through some crap in my life, and the last thing I need is to deal with some jackass trying to break me apart again. So just leave me alone alright? Then I won't have to break your nose and you won't have to deal with me when I'm pissed."

Nico stalks off, head spinning because he can still hear Melody's warnings.

He decides to try hanging out with the band geeks tomorrow. 

* * *

_I've been through some crap in my life and the last thing I need is to deal with some jackass trying to break me again._

_I've heard about you._

_You're a player._

Percy has never felt so weak in his life. His heart beats like a hummingbird wing. 

What is wrong with him?

How did Nico know? How did he see right through him like that?

It was as if Nico had analyzed him and saw what he wanted to do. From the start, Percy had wanted to break him. But he hears Nico's voice in his head again as he walks home.

_Break me again. Break me again. Break me._

He can't help but wonder who broke Nico the first time. And now he really wants to know.

He walks into his room with stealth, knowing that his mom's husband is probably passed out on the couch. He always is. 

Percy neglects his homework in favor of going through his closet to search for something to wear tomorrow. He reminds himself that he needs to wash clothes over the weekend and then goes back to flop on his bed. Instantly, his mind drifts back to Nico. Lately, he's been noticing things he never saw before. Like the way Nico's hair kind of hangs in his eyes. Ir how he always looks ready to punch someone after gym. Even the way he seems to barely be able to tolerate the girl who's akways hanging around him, the way he rolls his eyes at almost everything she says but is still willing to hang out with her. For a second, just a second, he's a bit jealous of her. He wants to be around Nico like that. To make him roll his eyes in amusement. To see him smile and...

Percy shakes his head and shoves it into a pillow, reasoning that these obnoxiously weird thoughts are just from lack of sleep. This is what happens when he stays up until four in the morning catching up on makeup work for math class. He resolves to let sleep get to him before his thoughts do.

Percy smells his mother before he sees her. He's still groggy with sleep, rubbing at his eyes as he sits up and takes a breath to make sure he's actually awake because that dream had been a little too realistic. Then he smells it. The scent of candy, of saltwater taffy and chocolate, mixed with the scent of books and pen ink. His mom. 

Sally Jackson stands at her son's door, smiling when he turns and notices her, snorting when he jumps. "Jesus Mom." Percy sighs, hand pressed to his chest because apparently his mother is a ninja who can sneak around at will. "You scared the pee out of me."

His mother snorts again, coming into his room to sit on his bed and ruffle his hair- an action she swore she'd stop doing when he turned twelve. "Not my fault you sleep like a dead man. I could have rolled you onto the floor and you'd have just kept snoring away."

"I don't snore Mom."

"You do sweetie. You sound like a tank." Sally says. "But I love you anyway." She hugs him and ruffles his hair again. "That's not why I came in here though. Your teacher called."

Shit.

"She said you're failing English."

Crap.

"And you have a D in math."

Poop.

"Percy, can you maybe explain that to me?" 

Percy sighs dejectedly, floping back on his pillows with a poof and a pout. "It's hard. I can't see the board in English because of my dyslexia and whatever we're learning in math doesn't even make any sense. Who cares what a radical is? I'm never gonna use them."

"That may be so, but I don't think you should be failing. Despite your lack of love for school, you're very intellegent. And your teacher says that you've been getting distracted lately. By some boy."

"I'm not distracted." Percy says.  _I just want to know why he hates me even though he barely knows me._ "I'm just curious about him is all."

"Well, maybe while you're paying such close attention to him, you could ask him to tutor you. He's enrolled  in advanced courses, according to your teacher. Do you think he might be willing to help you?"

Percy thinks about how Nico had told him to leave him alone. Multiple times. "Not likely." He scoffs.

"Well try anyway." Sally says. "You know what Gabe will do if he finds out that you're failing. He already doesn't think you should be here, don't give him any reasons to think he's right."

"Why did you marry him?" Percy mutters, finding it ironic that Gabe wants him out, even though he was here first and isn't a filthy pig.

"Percy-" Sally starts. "Don't do this. Not now. I don't have the patience for another rant. I told you before, it's..."

"Complicated." Percy finishes for her. "I know." His mother pats his leg telling him that dinner will be ready in an hour, before she walks out.

"It's always complicated." Percy says as he starts on his homework and tries to ignore the sound of Gabe yelling at his mother.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *runs into a corner t sob uncontrollably for what I have done to poor Sally Jackson* I am so sorry


	7. The Friendship Fascination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico finds that having friends really helps. They make him happy, and keep him that way. But most of all, friends are great for situations like these.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So lately I've noticed that my chapter names are kind of suckish. I mean, I still have trouble writing chapters, but naming them is even worse. So yesterday, I sat down and wrote out how my story was gonna go and came up with chapters. Let's hope that helps me out.

Nico remembers when he was little and his mother would sit him down at the dinner table. It'd be after the first day of a new school, when he had to meet new people and go through the tortuous, rigorous process over and over again thanks to his dad's job. 

His mother would make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with cookies, milk and maybe some potato chips if he was good. Then she'd sit down with him and they'd eat. She'd steal a bite of his sandwich and he'd snatch one of her cookies to make up for it. And when they were done, she'd start with the conversation. 

"Did you make any friends?" She'd ask, and Nico would always hang his head, slightly ashanmed that he hadn't been able to talk to a single person. 

"No Mama." He'd murmur. "I can't talk to people. They're all so loud and they ask so many questions. Why can't Roosevelt just be my friend?"

"Because Roosevelt is a teddy bear with a button for an eye." His mother would answer, a fond smile on her face, because she knew how much Nico hated meeting new people. Her son was the kind of kid who didn't take well to change, at least not very quickly. It took him a while to grow used to things. He's never been one to make friends quickly, and the ones he does make, don't stick around for very long. Most people found his quiet, timid nature pretty annoying.

But Nico thinks that if his mother could see him now, she'd be proud.

Well, maybe not proud, but definitely not disappointed. 

Ok. Maybe a little disappointed. 

"Come on Will, be serious." He whines as he slaps his newest friend, Will Solace, on the forehead, stopping his endless stream of corny math jokes. "This test is tomorrow and you promised you wouldn't let me fail."

"Not my fault you suck at history." Will snickers, earning him another harsh slap, this one delivered to the back of his head.

"Fine." Will groans.

Nico had met Will on the way home from school. Actually he'd been in the process of trying to find a way to get home because he'd missed the bus, and in his panic he'd run into Will. Literally. Fell on his butt and everything. Will had noticed his distress and offered to give him a ride home. Will's mom had been more than happy to oblige. In the following weeks that came after, they became good friends. Will helped him with his gym injuries- because he'd been getting a lot more for some reason- and kept him company. 

Will was a strange one. He always wore black- black jeans, shoes, shirts, you name it, he had it in black- which totally clashed with the brightness of his blonde hair. Now when Nico says blonde, he doesn't mean any run of the mill, regular blonde. No, Will's hair was 'a drop of the sun fell from the sky and landed on me and mow my hair shines like a star' blonde. The bright color had earned him the affectionate nickname of Rapunzel. His eyes were a weird shade of blue, kind of like a pool of water had been trapped inside his irises. You know thise pools you see on television? The ones that always have that clear blue water? Yeah, that was Will's eye color.

Another weird thing about Will, is his personality. Despite his choice in style and the fact that he hangs with the outcasts, Will is actually a pretty nice guy. He doesn't cause trouble or arguments, only fighting when the need arises. He tells jokes, smiles, the whole nine yards. He just looks scary.

Nico's other new friends however, werr exactly what you'd expect from someone in the outcast group.

Cecil for example. Cecil was a wild one, someone to be trifled with. He had a habit of breaking things, a talent for messing things up. Between his devilish smile and ability to break literally anything- plus his love of pissing off the preps- he was a weird one. His morals were a little spotty and sometimes he cussed a little too much. He was the perfect friend choice for Nico. 

Next came Lou Ellen. Like Nico's other friends, she was a little on the wild side. She had this weird ability of disappearing. One second, she was there, the next she was gone. With her dark black hair and eyes the color of sage, Lou Ellen was a great person. She aslo had a great sense of humor. (Nico found that out when she planned a prank on the preps that made them look like little piglets.)

The last friend Nico had made was a boy by the name of Leo Valdez. Leo really didn't need much of an introduction- because he preferred to introduce himself. He was short by normal standards coming in at five foot six. He was usually hanging around the tech geeks, as he was extremely good with computers and anything that needed building. You could always find him with a joke in his throat and a pencil behind his ear. He was especially jumpy, fidgety even, as his ADHD was more extreme than Nico's. (That's saying a lot actually.) He also knew morse code and three languages, two things he had no problem bragging about to anyone  who would listen. His sense of humor was wicked. He could make a joke out of anything, and could make anything sound dirty. 

Yeah, Nico had some weird friends. 

He loved it.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy, the last time he'd been in the company of someone he didn't want to strangle. Sure, he still wanted to strangle his friends, but it's a fond feeling now. They come to his house and make fun of Persephone together- when her back is turned of course. Cecil breaks at least one thing and Leo fixes it. Lou Ellen eats all the sweets they have while Will lectures her about how unhealthy that is before he eventually gives in and starts eating with her. They watch movies together, all squished together on the couch and floor. Leo makes a few dirty jokes and Nico slaps his for it.

Nico loves having friends. They make him happy, and keep him that way. But most of all, friends are great for situations like these. 

 

Nico hops out of Leo's dad's pick up truck- yes, hops, he's short and the truck is really big. He grabs his bag and says his thanks to Leo's father, laughing when Leo's dog Argo tries to climb out with him. Argo's a fat dog and when he runs, his ears flop, so watching him jump on the seat and bark is hilariously adorable. "Down boy. You can't come with me, they won't let you in."

Argo pouts, and Nico rolls his eyes as he pats the dog's head, scratching behind his ears just the way he likes. "Don't give me that face." He says as he shuts the door and heads back to Leo, who's found his way to their group of friends. 

They wait together until the first bell rings, talking ambiently about class and how terrible homework is. Will is about to start going off on Lou Ellen for eating three Twinkies during their conversation when Leo taps Nico on his shoulder. He jerks his head to the right and says, "Jackson. Three 'o' clock." That has the rest of their friends on high alert, and Nico doesn't even have to look to see that Percy is looking at him. He can feel it.

"You gonna tell him of or do you want me to do it?" Lou Ellen says, mouth still full of Little Debbie, making Will cringe.

"No. Lemme do it." Cecil begs. "I've been dying to piss someone off."

"No one is talking to him." Nico sighs. "I'm having a good day. I'm not about to let some narcissistic creep ruin it. He just wants a reaction and once he sees that he won't get one, he'll give up. Just ignore him and he'll go away." They all nod, and go about their conversation.

* * *

During lunch, it happens again. This time, Cecil is annoying Lou Ellen by booping her nose for no good reason while Nico and Leo share chips that Nico snags from Will's packed lunch. Nico's halfway through a handful of honey barbeque Lay's when Will kicks him under the table. 

"Ow!" Nico hisses, rubbing at his sore shin. "What the hell man?"

"One. Watch your mouth." Will chides and Nico rolls his eyes. "Two, I saw you stealing my children chips. And three, there's no way you don't notice him staring at you."

Nico blinks, frowning as the itch in his spine returns, alerting him to the eyes of the boy across the lunchroom. He'd been so invested in the chips and the conversation that he hadn't noticed at all. "Ignore him." He says, reaching for more chips without even trying to be sneaky.

Will kicks him again.

* * *

"Come on, not even once?"

"Nope."

"You cannot still be a mouth virgin."

"Do  _not_ call me that."

"You've never been kissed? Ever." Leo asks unbelieving, with his mouth hanging open. 

"Never." Nico answers.

"Lame." Lou Ellen says.

"No, I've just never had the need to kiss anyone. I've only dated like two people and they never tried to kiss me. I guess I'm just waiting for the right person." Nico said, face starting to flame up when his friends stared at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"That...was so romantic." Will smiles. 

"No..." Lou Ellen says. "It was lame. Lame to the fullest. Puke inducing even."

"I think it's nice, being a hopeless romantic. Giving someone flowers, getting flowers. Writing love songs. That sounds nice." Leo drawls, with an uncharacteristically dreamy look on his face that makes Nico suspicious. 

"Who is it?" He asks, to which Leo sputters. "Don't lie to me. I'll know."

Leo sighs, rubbing at his face like he wants to scrub the blush off his cheeks. "Jason."

"Who?" Nico blinks at the same time that Will, Lou Ellen and Cecil all shriek, "Grace?" Leo nods and Nico shakes his head. "Who the hell is that?"

"Tall, blonde, kind of muscley, scar on his mouth-" Will describes.

"With the bluest eyes you've ever seen." Leo gushes.

"Gross." Will retches, to which Leo growls. "Oh don't even start. We all know about your major crush on Jake Mason. You ain't slick jackass."

Will's cheeks flame. "Shut up! That's different and you know it. I've known him since kindergarten, it's only natural that I like him!"

"No, it's weird."

"Suck a dick!" Will yells.

"Swallow!" Leo hisses back.

"Kill me now." Lou Ellen groans.

Nico sighs and leans against the tree behind him, wondering how they even got to this point in the conversation. They were waiting for Leo's dad to pick them up, so they could ride in the bed of the truck. Leo started asking personal questions. Nico said he'd never been kissed...right. That's how they got here. 

Nico watches the parking lot, searching for the signature red, mud covered truck while he listens to Will and Leo bicker. Then he feels it. His spine is itching again.

"God dammit it all to hell."

Leo and Will stop their arguing to look at him quizzically. "What?" They ask simultaneously. 

"Percy." Nico growls, whipping around to face the eyes that he's come to despise. "I'm gonna kick his ass from here to Sunday until he's singing soprano."

Will pinches him for his potty mouth before he gets up, still incredibly irritated because he was in a good mood until now. His friends follow him as he stomps to where Percy and his friends are sitting. Nico notices that there are only two of them there, including Percy. The blonde girl is gone, along with red head and kalidescope girl. Percy and Jason Grace are all by themselves.

"Hi Nico." Percy smiles when Nico stops in front of him. "Can I help you?"

"I will end you." Nico growls. "Quit. Staring. At me. It's creepy."

"I told you I can't help it." Percy says. "Maybe if you went out with me, I'd be able to stop."

Nico doubts it. "I am not going out with you. Ever. So get the idea outta your head and quit staring at me." Percy doesn't answer him, simply staring at him with the most innocent look in his eyes, as if he hadn't just been giving Nico shivers- and not the good kind.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nico sees Jason Grace smile at Leo. "Hi there."

"H- hey." Leo croaks.

"Seriously." Lou Ellen mutters, staring up at the sky with a pleading look in her eye. "Anytime you feel like it. End me."

Nico drags Leo away, slapping his hand when he tries to wave to Jason.

* * *

 

"You're awful quiet today." Will notices during lunch.

"Murders aren't planned out loud Solace." Nico answers, rubbing at his arm. It was throbbing due to an injury in gym. Another one. "And I'm planning a pretty horrific mass murder right now."

"What happened this time?" Will asked, ready for the flood gates to spill open. Theu were sitting on the living room couch, the television playing reruns of SpongeBob. Nico was curled into himself, knees pulled to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. His face was contorted into an expression of irritation.

"He is so pretentious!" Nico yelled. "Just because he's had all these people at his knees, he thinks I'll be one of them. I keep telling him that I won't go out with him, that I don't like him, but does he listen? No! He just smiles and keeps doing it. Do you know how many notes I've gotten in my locker this past week?"

"No, but I assume that you'll tell me."

"Quit being an ass, I have a problem. This could be considered harassment. What am I supposed to do?"

Will shrugged. "You could just do what he wants."

"Please tell me you're joking." 

"No." Will said. "I'm serious. You want the endless flirting to stop. He offered you an ultimatum. Go out with him and you get a break."

"But I also get a pretentious asshole of a boyfriend."

"He never said you had to keep being his boyfriend. He said go out with him. Not once did he say how long you had to stay with him. You could probably dump him after a day and he'd still have to keep his promise." Will smiled, hoping that Nico would get the picture. 

"Sometimes I'm not sure if should hug you or run from you." Nico sighed. "But I really don't wanna go out with him. Even if it's just for a day."

"Well just imagine dumping him. That should make you feel better."

"Seriously. You scare me."

* * *

 Nico makes up his mind about six days later during lunch. He doesn't act on it, however, until after school.

He's alone this time, having missed his bus trying to grab his bass from the band room. He's already called his dad to pick him up, but if course he has to miss the bus the one day his dad has to work, so he has to wait until his dad gets a free minute to save him. Persephone would probably be able to do it, if she wasn't at her middle aged woman book club. (Who still goes to book clubs anymore? Adults are weird.) Besides, sitting in a car alone with her is more awkward than walking into class late with everyone staring at you.

So he decides to wait it out.

Nico sits on the stairs outside the office, the ones that lead up to the second floor where the other classes are held. Next to the stairs are a few windows, with a glass display shop filled with trophies and other school awards. Across the hall from the stairs is the library, filled with books that Nico will probably never read unless he's bored or its for class. That's another thing Nico doesn't do willingly. Read. (Unless he's reading something he really likes.) 

Nico stares out the windows, waiting for his dad's black sedan to pull up to the curb so he can go home. It's bad enough he has to come to school five days a week. Any extra time is unnecessary and extremely unappreciated. But at the same time, it lets him think. The halls are quiet now, void of their usual noise caused by children and their loud voices, so he can finally think without being shoved by someone. Its...nice.

So Nico thinks. He thinks about moving here and making friends and how great hjs life is starting to become. But thinking of friends has him thinking of that conversation he had with Will earlier.

To be honest, it'd been plaguing his mind a lot the last few days. Will's idea is actually pretty ingenious, though Nico doesn't expect anything less from someone who aces all of his tests without the need to study.

It still makes him uncomfortable, the idea of going out with someone like Percy, someone who uses people for his own enjoyment and leaves them to the wolves.

He guesses he could always just dump Percy after a day like Will said, because loopholes are everywhere. But it's that same fact that scares him. Loopholes are  _everywhere_ and Nico's kind of afraid the Percy will find one.

If he really had to, he thinks he could be able to stick it out for a little while, but not for long. He likes being single, likes not worrying about if he's being cheated on or played for a fool.

 

Than again, he's also pretty tired of being stared at like a piece of meat.

 

 

Percy isn't even trying to be subtle anymore- though Nico isn't sure when he was ever subtle, doesn't seem like his style. Percy just flat out ignores his friends and blatanly watches Nico from afar. Nico's pretty sick of it as it is, but lately, it's been getting worse and Nico's not sure he can handle it.

As he thinks, Nico doesn't pay any attention to the footsteps coming from behind him. Not until their owner is right behind him, tapping his shoulder. 

Nico nearly flips his shit as he turns around, holding a hand to his chest to calm his raging heartbeat. 

"Percy, what the hell? Don't sneak up on me like that, Jesus." Nico growls, even as Percy chuckles, completely uncaring of the heart attack he may have just caused. "What do you want?" Nico asks as he forces himself to calm down enough to glare at the boy behind him.

"Nothing. You just looked lonely." Percy shrugs, sitting beside him on the stairs, as if he was given permission to do such a thing. "I hate seeing someone lonely." Percy sends him a smile, one that most people would fall head over heels to see again. Most.

Nico scoffs. "Seriously, why are you here? You should be at home by now."

"A friend of mine wanted me to come watch her volleyball tryouts. It's a tradition. We've been doing it since we were allowed to play sports. She comes to all my tryouts and games and I do the same for her."

"I asked why you were here, not for your whole life story."

"Why do you do that?" Percy asks, sounding exasperated, as if he's had enough of playing nice. Good let him show his true colors, makes it all the more easy to resist him.

"Do what?" Nico says blandly, turning back to the window, silently praying that his dad would pull into the parking lot right now. His luck is nonexistent. Hades is nowhere to be found.

"Act all high and mighty. I've been nothing but nice to you and your an asshole to me, even though I've done nothing wrong to you. I get that you think I'm a bad person but-"

"I know you're a bad person." Nico interjects. "The table of hollow, heartbroken girls in the corner of the lunchroom is proof enough of that. Word about people like you gets around quick. And I'm an asshole to everyone, some more than others. It's a habit."

"It's a horrible habit to have. Why can't you just give me a chance?" Percy looks like a little kid at the moment, sea green eyes dull and sad, eyebrows scrunched together. Nico sighs. He's had about enough of this. He's thought it through enough times for his mind to be made up, and even if his brain doesn't get the memo, his mouth undoubtedly will.

"I was getting to that dumbass." He says, trying- and failing- not to scowl when Percy's face begins to mimic that of a dog being told he's a good boy. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Nico groans. "I thought about it, and since I really don't want you staring at me for the next four years of my life, I figured I'd take my chances with you. But I was serious about the no staring thing. If I agree to go out with you, you gotta quit that. It's creepy as hell."

"Noted." Percy beams. "No more staring. Got it."

Nico nods as he stands, seeing his dad's car pull up to the curb. Now he wants to show up. Nico pushes through the school's front doors, Percy following on his heels and waving as he tosses his bag in the backseat and plops into the passenger seat with an exaggerated sigh before he waves back. 

"Who's that?" Hades asks him as they pull out of the parking lot, his father going back to his perpetual habot of speeding for no reason.

"No one." Nico mumbles, even as he thinks that his life is about to get a little more hectic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, describing Cecil and Lou Ellen was hard.  
> Especially when there's no information on them at all. (Seriously what the hell is that about? They were characters in BoO, shouldn't there be some info on them?) But I did it. I freaking...did it. You guys are lucky I like you, I don't put this much effort into stuff.


	8. Screwed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico's starting to wonder what he's gotten himself into. Percy knows what he's doing, but he doesn't know why he's suddenly so affected by it. And Hades is real protective of his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people! Sorry about the delay. Again, no excuse. Just laziness and procrastination. I started rereading this and saw the amount of bad words that I put in it without thinking, so I changed the rating to Mature. Sorry if that causes any problems for you guys.

_Screwed._

It's such a funny word. Especially if you think about how people use it. When Nico was younger, he used to laugh whenever someone said it. He used to invision that person getting screwed into a wall with a human screwdriver. (He had a really active imagination back then. Like, overdrive mode.)

But now that he's older, Nico's found that the word has a lot more meaning. He's also pretty sure that if you looked up the word screwed in the dictionary, you'd find his name in bold and one of his old school photos.

_This,_ the definition would say.  _This is someone who is undoubtedly screwed._

Nico wouldn't even argue. He is screwed. Very screwed.

Nico had told himself that he'd dump Percy as soon as possible. He'd set limits for himself. He swore he'd give a week, no more, no less. He even swore his right hand on it. 

Now, Nico thinks that someone needs to come cut off his right hand because it's been about three weeks and he's still with Percy. 

In his defense though, Percy is a really good boyfriend. Like, really good. If there was an Olympics for best boyfriend, Percy would take the gold, bronze, silver and every other medal. He's polite and sweet and he cares and wait a minute...Nico's getting ahead of himself. What he's trying to say is that Percy is surprisingly hard to dump. He smiles at Nico like he's the world. He kisses Nico- on the cheek of course- so sweetly, it should be a crime. On their date, Percy had given Nico his jacket to wear in the rain. Then he let him keep it. He walks Nico to all his classes, which often makes him late for his own. He often lets Nico sit with him and his friends. And he'll even go so far as to sit with Nico and his own friends.

Needless to say, it's clear that Percy is pretty intent on keeping Nico around.

Nico's gotta say, the fact that Percy's thinking about him is nice. As someone who's never had anyone treat him like this, or even think about him like this, Nico doesn't know how to combat it. He's never blushed so much in his life, he's never blushed at all to be honest, at least not by being complimented.

Percy's so good with words, that it's impossible not to swoon every time he speaks. Especially when he leans into Nico's ear and whispers sweetly. Things like: _"You look so good in those jeans."_  And, _"Are you trying to kill me with those eyes?"_ The way his hands caress and move with all the softness and grace that a human can possibly muster.

Melody scolds him for falling for it. "It's a trap." She says. "He's using you." Nico knows that, really he does. But there's times when Nico has lapses in judgement, times when he can't quite see the big picture and can only see Percy's smile.

Like now for instance, as Nico sits in Percy's lap. The two of them are sitting together on Nico's living room couch. The TV is showing a rerun of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, though Nico isn't paying much attention to it. He'sa bit more focus on the breath puffing down the back of his neck. He's starting to think that letting Percy convince him to sit in his lap, was a bad idea. Now that he's there, he's hypersensitive to everything. He could feel his heart beating a little quicker than normal. He could feel Percy's hands on his body, his arms wrapped around him, his nose sliding along the skin of Nico's nape. Nico knows where this is going. He's heard about it from Melody. 

"He'll try to get close to you. He'll do whatever it takes. You can't let him." 

Nico had nodded, promising that he'd never let Percy get close enough to touch him. Then again, he'd also promised that he'd have dumped Percy by now. He hadn't exactly planned on it going this far. But now that it has, he doesn't really know what to do. He doesn't have any experience in this department of life. No person has ever tried to get this close to him, ever looked at him and talked to him the way Percy does. It's a little unnerving just how clueless Nico is about this. Nico is gifted, advancing two grades higher than most of his peers in terms of classes, so he's used to being smart, to having the answers. How funny that the one thing he doesn't know a thing about, ends up being his downfall.

There's another puff of air rushing down his nape as Percy chuckles and Nico forces himself to pay attention to the movie. The stuffy rich girl got attacked by the squirrels. Oh. 

Any other day, and Nico would be having a cow. That scene was his favorite in the whole movie, except for the beginning credits. But it's a little hard to enjoy it when a certain someone keeps tightening their grip on his waist. So Nico does his best to keep his face emotionless as he distractedly watches the movie, blatantly ignoring the fact that the butterflies in his stomach have built a home, started having kids and making the place way too crowded to be healthy. 

"Hey." He decided to say, once he's tired of that stupid colony of butterflies in his gut losing their minds whenever Percy breathes on him or maneuvers in any way. His voice is a little too shaky for his liking so he clears his throat and trues again. "Hey, could you let me off for a while?"

He can practicalityhear Percy's frown. "Why? Is it uncomfortable? I can move-"

"No, it's not uncomfortable." Nico tries to reason,  because in fact, it's the exact opposite. Percy's lap his very comfortable. Nico's pretty sure that it'd make a great pillow for someone. (And Percy would undoubtedly stay still to let that person rest on him as long as they liked.) What isn't comfortable, is the tight clench on Nico's heart that is steadily getting worse and worse the longer Percy holds him. He doesn't want to seem unhappy about the generous offer to move so he can be more comfortable, and for some reason, he also doesn't want to hurt Percy's feelings. (Which is weird, because usually, he loves brusing egos. Ask his friends.) So he figures that a little white lie will do him more good than anything else.

"I have to pee. Really bad. I've been holding it for the last twenty minutes and we are at Def Con One." Okay, maybe that was a little more than a white lie. He'll call that one an orange lie, seems appropriate for whatever reason. 

Percy lets him up immediately, as the thought of being peed on is obviously enough to deter his clingy-ness. Nico hops up quickly, rushing to the bathroom because that little orange lie had become truthful and now he really did have to pee. He relieves himself and washes his hands, and is about to open the door when he freezes.

He needs to think.

And maybe doing so in the guest bathroom isn't much of a good idea, but Nico lives here, Percy's the only real frequent guests beside Nico's friends, and Nico is in the midst of a crisis. If he had a phone, he'd be calling one of his friends for help- not that any of them would be able to offer any but a guy can dream. But unfortunately, he'd broken his phone about two months before they moved here and Nico had to promise to be nice to Persephone for a month before he could get a new one. He has yet to do so, as he and his stepmom don't get along in any sense, arguing over the dumbest things, like littke kids. Right about now, Nico's really regretting complaining about her messy car- because apparently, that wasn't being nice. In his defense, the poor Sonata was trashed.

But still, Nico regrets it, as he has no way to call anyone for help, his boyfriend is in his living room and he's at a loss for what to do in a situation like this. He knows he can't just walk out there and end this, because that would be extremely awkward and as Nico kind of sucks at dealing with awkward situations. But he thinks of all the people this boy has utterly ruined, and he knows he can't keep doing this. His life has already been one huge mess, he's not about to let that mess get any bigger because of some guy.

Nico takes a breath, steeling himself for what he's about to do, before he throws open the bathroom door and walks to the living room with as much confidence as he can muster. He plops onto the couch, utterly determined to tell Percy that this is ending, now, and that they are no longer a couple. He fully intends to feel nothing as he says it too. But the second he sits down, Percy's gaze is fixed on him, green eyes full of concern and Nico feels like he's been hypnotized. 

"Are you okay?" Percy asks, leaning in a little too close. Nico gulps and nods, trying gain that confidence back so he can put a stop to this. He opens his mouth but no words come out. He clears his throat and tries again. "Percy-"

"Yeah?" Percy looks way too hopeful,  eyes shining, smile small but full of adoration. Melody had said that all this was just a game. But if Percy's acting, then someone give this boy an Oscar. Nico can't remember what he was going to say, mind gone thoroughly blank. He shakes his head and tries for a smile. "Nothing."

Percy smiles and grabs him, pulling him into his side, and Nico drifts between blissful happiness and intense disappointment in himself. He waa supposed to kick Percy to the curb. That was the plan, that had always been the plan. And now his plan is being tossed out the window by his brain's refusal to cooperate. On the other hand, he shouldn't feel this good. Being tucked into Percy's sode shouldn't make him want to burrow his face in and giggle. Shouldn't make him feel blissed out, like he's high on the best drugs in existence. 

Nico's starting to wonder what he's gotten himself into. But at the same time, he's not sure he wants to know.

* * *

 

"Please?"

"No."

"Why not?" Percy whines through the phone, sure that he sounds like a five year old, but not actually caring much. "My mom said she wouldn't mind. And my stepdad isn't home."

Percy inwardly smiles at the luck that Gabe isn't home to harrass him. And if he's able to convince Nico to come over, his luck will be at an all time high.

Nico sighs. "That's what I'm worried about. You barely have any control with me in public, I don't even want to know what you'd try to do to me behind closed doors with no adult supervision."

Percy huffs at that, insisting that his recent inability to keep his hands off his boyfriend- man, that word gets him every time- isn't his fault. How else is he supposed to act when Nico's always so close to him? Okay, so maybe his hands have strayed a little too far below the belt, or roamed a bit too far up Nico's shirt. But that was only once- twice, possibly three times- and he's never actually done it in actaul public. It isn't like he ever tried to seduce him in the middle of a park or something. He's just been getting a little handsy when they sit on a couch together. (There had been that one time at lunch though, but Percy blames Nico for wearing what he'd worn that day.) But Percy's been doing his best to stay on his best behavior when they're out together. Of course that doesn't stop him from thinking about what they'd do if they were alone together...no. He'd rather not get into that.

"I won't try anything, I promise." 

Nico's snort is loud, and Percy can almost see him tolling his eyes. "That's what you said last time and I had to wear my hoodie all day to cover that up. I even wore it during gym."

"You can't blame that on me, that was all you." Percy defends himself, mind racing back to that one time he'd left a hickey on Nico's collarbone. It really hadn't been his fault though. You don't blame the wolf for chasing the rabbit. As far as Percy was concerned  Nico was a rabbit that day, and he was starved.

Nico snorts again. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Besides, I couldn't come over if I wanted to. I'm supposed to be going to Leo's today. His dad's coming to pick me up.  Sorry." His tone makes it sound like he's anything but sorry, but Percy decides to let that go.

"Okay." He says, before he lets Nico say goodbye and hangs up the phone. Percy stands there for a minute, looking around the empty apartment that he's been left in, wondering what he's going to do to keep himself entertained. His mom is at work, probably worried sick about him- even though he's assured her that he can take care of himself. (Though she didn't believe him because apparently one little stove fire ruins trust.) Gabe is off doing only God knows what with Satan knows who. The details don't matter to him, as long as the fat man is gone. Percy has the apartment to himself.

Usually he'd be pretty happy about that. Gabe barely left, and when he did he always manages to come back smelling worse than when he left. And Percy loved his mom but there's only so many knowing glances and optimistic words after a fight with Gabe that he can take. (His mother insists that if he just stop starting arguments, they wouldn't have a problem. Percy disagrees. He's sure they'll have problems until Gabe is either gone or dead. He's not sure which one he prefers. Either way, he's still bored as he plops onto his bed, laying down on his bed and closing his eyes 

Percy is a lot of things. According to his friends, he's reckless, sarcastic, ignorant at times and all in all, a generally good person. According to his mother, he's a sweetheart with a heart of gold. To Nico, he's annoying, insatiable and a pain in the ass. Yeah, Percy is a lot of things. And unfortunately, one of thise things- among all the others- is restless. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was younger so it's to be expected that he can't sit still. But it's a real headache when he's in a quiet environment. Like now for example. With no one home, the apartment is near silent, the onky sound being his breathing. He doesn't get two minutes without his brain deciding that quiet is for dead people, and his thoughts start to wander.

At first, it's the same thing as always. His brain conjures up some fantasy of him being a hero, like he's been doing since he was 12. In his fanatsy, he's a sword weilding warrior who defends the helpless. He fights monsters, with powers that would make anyone stare at him in awe. He's got friends in the fantasy as well, since heroes can't save the world all by themselves. Most of them are influenced by people he knows, like Annabeth and Jason and Rachel. Even his mother and Piper are in the mix sometimes. They all have amazing weapons with even better powers- his mom has a pretty wicked looking shotgun for some reason- and they run around saving the world.

The fantasy starts without a hitch, with him and his friends staring up at some giant monster- one that's generally horrific in nature. Percy tells them to get their weapons ready, and they do, getting into battle stances,  power flowing around their bodies like capes. The monster roars, the sudden burst of air making their hair flap like flags in the wind. The battle starts easily, each of them taking powerful swings at the monster that do nothing to it. Some of them are slammed against the wall of the huge room they're in. In barely any time at all, Percy is the only one left standing- as he often is in these dreams- though he's not so much standing as he sprawled on the ground, bloody and beaten. The monster looms over him, ready to strike and Percy starts to think that this daydream is a little different from the others. There's a flash of light to the left of him and Percy turns his head- in the daydream, duh- and Percy knows that this daydream is way different than the others. Mostly for one reason.

Standing in front of him, hair flowing, face contorted into a smirk, is a warrior. A new one, donned in all black, from the pants that hug his legs to the shirt that covers his upper body and the jacket that snaps in the wind. 

"Need some help there, oh Great One?" The warrior sneers fondly.

Percy sighs. "Hey, Nico."

Dream Nico rolls his eyes as he helps him up, eyes twinkling with defiance at the rush of adrenaline flowing through him from the strike he'd just landed on the beast Percy was fighting. "What a hero you are." He snorts. "Getting taken down by something as small as this."

"It's harder than it looks." Percy grunts as he bends to pick up his sword from the ground. It's a wicked looking thing, golden and sharp, just how he likes it.

"Really?" Nico's gone in a flash, leaving a dust cloud in his wake. Percy's eyes barely have time to register the way he moves, though he does see it. Nico's body twists gracefully, despite the fact that he's kind of murdering a monster with ease. The sword in his hand is even more wicked than Percy's, black with an aura of darkness surrounding it. With a blade like that, the monster is on the ground in seconds, and Nico is zipping back to Percy's side, without a hair ruffled. "Because that seemed pretty easy to me." Nico helps him gather all his friends- none of them dead, just unconscious and due for a lot of pain when they woke up- and when they're done, Percy turns to Nico. 

"How did you do that by the way?" He questions 

Nico shrugs, slicing through the air with his blade. "It's kind of second nature by now I guess. When you've fought as many monsters as have, and done it all on your own, things like that seem pretty normal-"

He's about to say something else, but when his mouth opens, his voice sounds an awful lot like Percy's mom. "Percy!"

Percy jolts awake, unaware that he'd fallen asleep, and glances around to find his mother sitting on his bed, smiling. "Welcome to the world of the living Percy. You were out cold there."

"Hey mom." Percy mumbles as he rubs his eyes. "You're home. How was work?" His mother sighs. "It was work, that's all I'm going to say about it." Percy laughs at that, moving his legs off the bed and standing up. "Well, since you're obviously tired, I'll make dinner."

A hand grabs his wrist, stopping him from going to the kitchen. "No you don't." His mother says, a slightly fearful look in her eyes. "Remember the last time I let you cook?"

"That was one time, mom."

"And your eyebrows took forever to grow back. You look ridiculous and I learned to never put you and a fire in the same room. I'm cooking." Percy sighs dramatically as she stands, walking behind her as she saunters to the kitchen and starts preparing the food.

"Is Gabe home yet?" She asks, as she turns the stove on and sets a pot of green beans on it to cook.

Percy snorts. "Well, considering the fact that the living room doesn't smell like cigar smoke and desperation, I'm going to say no." The snarky sentence earns him a raised eyebrow to which he shrugs innocently. "What? You and I both know that when he's here, the place reeks. I swear it's like he carries a shrunken, rotting, dead body in his pants pocket."

"Percy-"

"Alright, alright. No more comments about your husband. What do you want me to help with?"

He gets to work as soon as his mom starts ordering him around the kitchen.

 

When dinner is done, and all three of them have eaten- Gabe walked through the door as soon as dinner was done- Percy wanders back into his room, closing his door to block out the stink. (He hadn't been kidding when he said that Gabe smelled. It was like a skunk followed him everywhere or something.) He opens his window and grabs a wrinkled piece of paper from his nightstand, as well as a pencil, before he places himself in a chair in front of the window. The sun is just starting to go down, the light blue of the afternoon sky, starting to melt into shades of blue and purple and pink and even a little orange. From where his window is placed, he can see people walking on the sidewalk in front of his apartment building. Most of them are wearing jackets that look a little heavy, as it's beginning to get chillier as fall approaches fast.

Percy sets the paper on the window sill, watching the sun get a little lower before he starts to draw. He's not very good at art, as his hands aren't the most steady and he's never had that much inspiration. But what he can draw is weapons, and he's pretty good at that as far as most things go. The paper is covered in faded drawings of weapons, most of them inspired by the daydreams he has, others just something he saw in a movie. In the left corner is a dagger with a bone for a handle. Beside it, in his handwriting, is Annabeth's name. Below that is a sword, long and pointy, with Jason's name scrawled next to it. Piper's weapon- a dagger just as scary looking as Annabeth's- is located in the top right corner, with his mother's awesome shotgun edging closer to the center of the page. His own sword is in the center and there are a few more weapons littered around the page that Percy admires, proud of his handiwork. On this side of the page, there's only one spot left that isn't covered in pencil and eraser marks. Percy decides to draw there.

He closes his eyes, forcing himself to remember the newest weapon he'd daydreamed about, the one Nico had been wielding. It's black, with an aura of darkness around it, like it command the shadows. It's kind of long, and wickedly sharp, and kind of shiny with blood. Percy draws it that way,  smudging the pencil around the edges of it to give it that aura, before he signs Nico's name next to it.

By the time he's done, the sun is gone from view, the sky filled with stars, with the moon peeking out from behind a building. Percy sets the paper off to the side, sitting back in his chair and flexing his wrist- because all that drawing and erasing and fussing over every detail of the sword, had made his muscles cramp a little. His mind drifts back to that daydream, though this time, it's more about Nico than the sword. The smirk on his face, the one that mirrors the ones he gives in real life perfectly. The pants that hugged him in the exact way that they do now. And the graceful way he'd killed that beast all while retaining his sass.

Percy's starting to think he's in over his head. He's broken a lot of hearts in his days, and never once has he ever thought about someone like this. Well, there was that one girl in eight grade, but Percy had been thinking of ways to completely ruin her past the point of no return, so he figures that that doesn't count. This is different. 

For one thing, Percy's having daydreams about him, something that's never happened to him with anyone else because the only people he has in his daydreams are people he cares about. He's not sure if he cares about Nico. Sure, he's attracted to him, very much. (Every physical attribute about him makes Percy's blood boil at the thought of what he could make that body do if he had the chance.) But this is starting go a little further than just attraction. In the last few weeks that they've been dating, Percy has felt himself changing. He's still sarcastic and upbeat, but now he's less worried about how he can corrupt Nico and more worried about how he can make him smile. (Nico's smile is a thing to behold. His eyes light up and twinkle and...he's getting ahead of himself.) He likes holding Nico close to him when they're alone, and even though the more sadistic side of him gets a thrill out of the way that Nico so easily melts against him, another part of him thoroughly enjoys it. They haven't kissed yet, but the more Percy thinks about it, the more he starts watching the way Nico's lips move when he talks. He also likes the way he squirms when Percy gets handsy with him, trying to make him be appropriate. It's endearing to the point of annoyance, because Percy kind of hates the way his heart skips a beat tmat the thought of Nico, but he likes it too. He'd compare the feelimg to being stabbed in the back by a puppy. It's jell but it's a rather pleasurable one.

Percy's thoughts are interrupted by a yawn that forces it's way out of him, and he stands, undressing himself and redressing in a pair of flannel pajama pants and a Coca-Cola shirt that's a size too small. He crawls into bed, tossing and turning until he's comfortable. He starts thinking about Nico again, as he drifts off, and for a second, he thinks that while he doesn't know what this fluffy feelijg in his chest is, he likes it.

He likes it a lot.

* * *

 

When Nico's dad says that he wants to meet his boyfriend, Nico just about dies on the spot.

Actually, he chokes on the piece of- dry, thanks to Persephone- chicken in his mouth. Hazel slaps him on the back a few times, and then he's good. Still shocked though.

"What?" He sputters, trying to calm his racing heart and figure out how his dad knows he even has a boyfriend, at the same time. "How did you-?"

"Nico, I'm your father, if anyone would know about your secret boyfriend, it'd be me." Hades says, voice low, like he's trying to sound like a mysterious villan.

"I told him." Hazel says, making Hades frown. When Nico sputters again, Hazel rolls her eyes. "I'm your sister. I know better than you know yourself, even if you don't believe it. And when you start walking around the house with a constant blush, I notice."

Nico's hands fly to his face, in an effort to cover his cheeks, as if that'll stop the red from popping up there. "Just because my face is red, doesn't mean that I have a boyfriend." He argues. "I could be sick, or dying."

"Are yoy sick or dying?"

"No." Nico sighs.

"And you have a boyfriend." It's not so much of a question as it is a statement, because Hazel can see right through him.

"Yeah."

"Than it's settled." Hades says. "I want to meet him."

The conversation ends at that, but Nico knows what that means. He's seen the look on his father's face only a handful of times. It's the kind of look that he gave Bianca whenever she brought home a guy that he didn't approve of. Nico was never really allowed to be in the same room when the young man was brutally interrogated. But he'd sit just by the door and listen, taking a few peeks when he thought it was safe. His voice was always low, like a wolf about to strike, as he asked questions. His face would be emotionless and cold, eyes burning with a sort of protective fire. Nico prayed for the boys that his sister brought home. 

Now he was praying for a boy of his own. How annoyingly ironic.

"Fine." He huffs, stuffing his face with- still dry- chicken.

May God help Percy when he has to meet Hades. 

Actually, God may not be much help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. I'm sorry but I'm kind of trash for Percy being interrogated by Hades like a criminal. Call me weird, but I like it.


	9. The Dating Disfunction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jason's starting to lose it, Leo has a heart attack, Nico gets a migraine and Percy's way too excited about a walk around the mall. Not exactly in that order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters are steadily getting longer. Is it egotistical of me to be clapping myself on the shoulder whenever I make a new chapter? Yes? Oh. Fucking. Well.

* * *

Nico has a headache. 

Not the kind of normal headache, the ones that you just have to live through because life is life and sometimes life sucks ass. No. Nico's headache is more of a migraine. As if his skull is made of tectonic plates and some idiot keeps making earthquakes for no good reason.

That idiot would be named Leo freaking Valdez. 

"You seriously said yes to that egomaniac?" Leo screeches as he slams the buttons of the game controller.

"Yes, I did." Nico says, voice muffled by the fur of the dog his face is currently stuffed into. Nico gestures vaguely to the TV, which is blasting music and fight noises from the game of Super Smash Brothers that Leo and Will are playing. "Turn that down."

Leo turns the damned thing up, making Nico come out of his furry protection to torpedo a pillow at the back of his head, before Will turns the TV down. "Why would you agree to go out with him?" Lou Ellen asks, around a mouth full of white cheddar Cheez-its.

Nico shrugs. "To get him off my back. He said that if I went out with him, he'd stop staring at me and he'd quit being such a douche. Besides, he never said I had to keep dating him. Really, I could dump him at any time and he'd have to keep his promise. It was Will's idea." Will sprouts a rather amusing shade of red, which really clashes with the mop of sunshine he calls hair. "I was making a suggestion, I never said you had to go through with it."

"It was a pretty good suggestion." Cecil says. "Evil. I love it. You should be evil a lot more often. Makes you more fun."

"Was I not fun before?" Will asks, as he pushes a button that makes Yoshi shove Mario off the platform in the game.

"You're fun..." Cecil drawls. "...when you're not acting like my mother." He adds, in a rather good imitation of Will's voice, "Cecil, put down that spray can. Stop pissing off the teachers. Do you have a death wish?"

Nico chuckles at that, mostly because Cecil is right. Will is the more responsible one out of all of them. He keeps them in line, like a mother overwhelmed with children. Or a daycare worker. Maybe a dog sitter. 

"Shut up." Will whines. "You do have a death wish. Who the hell plays chicken in the middle of Tod Avenue?" He's talking about the busiest street on this side of town. Tod Avenue always has traffic and accidents, playing chicken there is basically a death wish. Then again, Cecil has never been one to be afraid of anything. 

"Back to the topic at hand." Leo says, relinquishing the controller to Lou Ellen because he lost. He turns to Nico with a glint in his eye. "When are you gonna do it?"

"Do what?"

"Dump him. When are you gonna dump him? I wanna be there when the bastarr breaks into tears."

"Pretty sure he's not going to cry, Leo." Will snickers as he picks Yoshi for his character. Again.

"I dunno." Lou Ellen says, going with Princess Peach. "He's never been dumped before. He always ends it. Maybe getting a taste of his own medicine will make his ego shrink a little. Or at least make him cry. Leo's right, I wouldn't mind seeing some tears."

"You guys are evil bastards aren't you?" Nico wonders out loud, making his friends snicker in unison. "You knew what you signed up for." They all say at the same time. Nico rolls his eyes. 

* * *

 

Percy shouldn't be this excited.

His heart shouldn't be jumping out of his chest at the thought of going on a date. He's been on plenty of dates before, this is nothing he isn't used to. This is routine, planned and coordinated perfectly so he can achieve his goal. 

Maybe that's it. The thrill of the chase. After all, he did spend literal weeks trying to convince this boy to go on a date with him. It's only natural that he should be satisfied. That's what he chocks it up to, just simple satisfaction of a job well done. Soon, he'll have another broken heart under his foot and a new target ready for the taking.

Of course that doesn't explain why he spends the enitre day of his date floating on some weird cloud nine. He can't focus on anything, and during class, he daydreams. He does it often anyway, without the need for excitement about a date, but today it's even worse. Usually he just thinks about being a hero. Saving the day, having amazing powers and doing what every kid dreams of doing. But today, he dreams of raven black hair and skinny jeans that hug thick thighs, and hoodies and sweaters. He dreams of snarky remarks and witty comebacks, black eyes flashing with rebellion and repressed emotions. 

He's lucky he doesn't have any important tests or anything going on today, because by the time he gets to his locker at the end of the day, he's a bit of a wreck. His head is still spinning with weirdly romantic crap and he can't quite get it together, so he ends up locking his jacket in his locker, having to unlock it, grab it and lock the locker again. 

Percy waits for Nico by the front steps of the school, watching kids run to catch the bus and hop into their parent's cars. He waves goodbye to his friends as they head home, wishing him luck on his date.

He has about ten seconds to think that he doesn't need luck when he has skills and looks, before Nico taps on his shoulder, making him whip around and then Percy takes it back. He needs all the luck he can get, or maybe a prayer or two in there. Yeah, a prayer would do him real good right now, because the way Nico looks, he could really use one.

Nico's hair is pulled into a loose ponytail, a few strands hanging in his face so he has to blow them away. He's wearing skinny jeans like he usually is, but these are a light, worn gray instead of faded black. They're also dotted with specks of what looks like white paint, but Percy can't be sure. What he is sure of, is that Nico's jeans hug his hips, even if the oversized sweater he's wearing prevents him from seeing said hips. The sweater is huge, hanging off Nico's shoulder, showing a thin shirt underneath and a bit of his collarbone. The sweater is mainly black, though if Percy looks hard enough, he can see faint traces of purple somewhere in there. 

As if his clothes aren't adorable enough, his shoes leave no more argument. Nico's wearing faded Converses with designs on the side. Percy looks at the design and knows he's going to need some luck. Deadpool. Nico is wearing sneakers with a Deadpool emblem. 

_Adorable. Absolutely, freaking adorable. God help me._

 "What are you staring at?" Even his voice is more adorable than usual, all shaky and breathless. "I thought you were taking me on a date."

"I am." Percy says, putting a smile on his face even though he feels like he's about to simultaneously puke and squeal. He mentally chastises himself for feeling that way, forcing his breathing to steady even though he can feel his heart having a panic attack at the moment. He gestures for Nico to follow him to the curb, where his mom's car is waiting. "You look nice."

Nico blinks, then rolls his eyes, nervousness gone in an instant. "Yeah, well don't expect to see it all that often. This is a one time thing and I happen to have a sister who believes in making good first impressions. She dressed me. If I had a choice, I'd be wearing what I always wear." Percy smiles again, glad that Nico's back to the way he usually is because he's not sure he can take the onslaught of cute anymore.

"She did good."

Percy can't be sure, but he thinks that as he holds the door to the back seat of the car open for Nico to climb into, he sees a smile.

* * *

 

  _Too much_

Those are the two words that Nico would use to describe this moment. Too much. Everything around him is too much to handle. From the proximity that Percy is to him- shoulders pressing together, spreading warmth where it shouldn't be. To how nice Percy's mom is. 

The car ride is long, as they're going to a movie theater on the other side of town, and during the ride, Percy's mom asks him questions. She asks him about school and he tells her that he's taking gifted courses. (Percy stiffens when his mom suggests that he help Percy with his grades because apparently he's failing.) She asks him about his family and Nico only tells her about Hazel and his dad because he's pretty sure that if he starts talking about his stepmom, these two are gonna hear some stuff they don't want to.

He learns that her name is Sally and he mentally snorts at that. Sally and Perseus. He asks her why she named her son that, and she laughs. "I had this weird obsession with Greek mythology when I was pregnant with him, and naming him Hercules didn't seem like a very good idea. I figured that Perseus would be the next best thing. Heck, his dad is named after a Greek god and-"

"Mom. Please?" Percy interrupts, sounding exasperated, and Sally glances at him through the rearview mirror, eyes sad. "Yeah, yeah okay. I'm sorry, I forgot."

Nico feels like he just witnessedsomething he wasn't supposed to. He doesn't mention it though. If he can withhold information on his stepmom, then they have the right to do the same with Percy's dad.

_Besides._ He thinks to himself.  _It's not like I'mgoing to get the chance to ask about it. This is a one time thing, just one date._ Right. There's no need to start sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. 'Curiosity killed the cat' isn't a saying for nothing.

 

* * *

 

 

Nico loves action movies.

He loves the whole 'We have two hours to save the world' thing. He loves the weapons and the advanced fighting techniques that he'd learn if he wasn't so dang clumsy. And if there's a little flirtatious romance between a pretty girl- preferably one who can break a neck without breaking a sweat- and a ridiculously attractive man- who can shoot a gun like no one's business- he figures that that's even better. 

He especially likes the villans though. The cryel ones that have tragic history with the hero, or the sadistic nutjob who just loves a good blood bath. Maybe a few broken ones who want to be good but don't know how. Nico doesn't care. He loves them all, how wicked they are and how witty they can be in the face of the person who's about to ruin their devious plan. Nico loves the whole thing.

Percy, however, appears to love it even more. Nico hadn't even thought that was humanly possible because when he watches action movies by himself, he screams for blood until the end credits, but Percy is just as bad as him, if not worse.

"Kick his ass." Percy mutters as the hero gets slammed against the wall by one of the villan's henchmen. The villan smiles cruely and Nico swears that Percy lets out a string of expletives that should be illegal. 

"For the love of all that is holy, shoot him already, he tried to kill you twenty minutes ago for Christ's sake." Percy hisses as the hero holds a gun to the villan's head, both of them crying. "He literally just tried to murder you. He killed your mom, and held your brother prisoner. But no...just stand there and cry with him, not like he didn't want you dead earlier." Nico snorts, turning his head to Percy and whispering in his ear. "A little emotional about the movie don't you think?"

Percy snorts too. "I'm just saying, for this guy to be the hero, you'd think he'd have some common sense. The guy just did this whole list of horrid things to him and he wants to hug him. If it was me, that guy would be dead already."

"Yeah, that's why you can't be a hero." Nico smirks, as he takes a bite of the chocolate bar he'd snuck in because movie candy is expensive and he forgot the money he had, at home because Hazel took so long dressing him this morning. "Just because it's a one time thing, doesn't mean you shouldn't dress to impress." She had said. Whatever. Nico doesn't dress to impress anyone, hell he barely has the energy to get dressed half the time. He doesn't know how his sister does it.

He finishes the chocolate quickly- as his never ending craving for the candy took hold and he is no one to disobey it- and starts in on the popcorn he had somehow convinced Percy to buy for him. (He couldn't spend his own money, but as long as Percy was offering, he wasn't going to pass up free food. Call him what you want, but food is food.) Percy takes handfuls from time to time, when he's not busy making witty remarks that make Nico choke at least twice. By the time the movie is over- with the generic cliffhanger happy ending- Nico has lost it four times and gotten shushed by everyone around him.

They go to a diner next, since Nico's stomach appears to want to be bottomless today and Percy's feeling rather famished himself. The old lady at the counter greets them with a smile, Percy nodding to her and Nico waving politely like he was taught when he was a kid.

The two of them sit down across from each other and Nico immediately starts to stare out the window to avoid conversation. The sun is starting to dim, being covered by gray clouds that will be there for a while by the looks of it.

"It's gonna rain." Percy says, sounding really dismayed about the fact. Nico takes a second to glance at him and he looks like he wants to fight the sky for daring to rain. "Crap. I hate rain."

Nico can understand that. He hates rain too, especially thunderstorms. The thunder scares the crap out of him to this day, and the lightning is just frustrating. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't hate the rain as much as what comes with it. Somehow, he always ends up slipping on something. Yeah, Nico gets it. That doesn't stop him from being a sarcastic little shit about it though, because as much as he shares Percy's mutual hatred of rain, doesn't mean that Percy needs to know that. Really, it's nice to have a one up for once.

"What? Afraid it'll mess up your hair, beauty queen?" He teases, motioning to Percy's hair, which is messy in an irritatingly perfect way, like he spent hours in a mirror trying to make it look just messy enough to be attractive. He probably did, Nico wouldn't put it past him for a second. 

Unfortunately, Percy doesn't miss a beat, angry expression turning flirtatious. "Nah, it's not my hair I'm worried about. It's just that I'd hate for you to melt." Nico doesn't quite get that, and it takes him a second, but once he figures it out his face lights up like a Christmas tree. It's a saying that his dad would tell his sister when she didn't want to wear her coat out in the rain.

"Dad, the coat looks stupid." Bianca would complain.

"Maybe it does, but water melts sugar sweetie." Their dad would smile, and Bianca would grin.

Water melts sugar. Percy basically just called him sweet. Crap.

"Shut up." Nico gripes, taking a sip of the cookie dough milkshake he'd ordered and going back to glare out the window where he can see rain starting to fall. The rain is fat, the kind that finds its way into your eye no matter what and Nico mentally cringes at the thought of having to step foot out in that.

He doesn't have to look to know that Percy's watching him again. But of course, he does anyway, and instantly regrets it because the second his eyes lock, he can't look away. Percy has this glare in his eyes, a sort of shine that makes Nico half uncomfortable to the point of vomiting and half virgin school girl on a date with her crush. Actually, that isn't far off from where he's at right now.

The virgin and date thing, not the crush thing. Nico doesn't get crushes. Nope.

He and Percy have a stare down for about thirty seconds before their waitress comes back and asks them for their orders. Percy orders a BLT. Nico springs for a plain burger and fries. He also asks for a refill on his milkshake. The waitress nods politely, smiling as she walks off- Nico chooses to ignore the fact that her attention is more occupied by Percy than anything else.

"So." Percy drawls after the waitress is gone and he's done taking a sip of his blue- no, seriously blue- Coke. "You're taking gufted courses-"

"And you're failing." Nico replies, smiling wickedly at the way Percy tenses defensively, then relaxes. 

"Yeah." He says quietly. "My mom told you about that. She thinks you could help."

"I probably could." Nico says, having no doubt that he could help Percy get his grades up. He's done it for other kids, this one shouldn't be any different. But it is. Percy's given him so much grief about going on a date with him, that he's starting to think that he deserves a little revenge. After all, he's been told that he holds grudges and now that he has some leverage, there's no point in letting a good opportunity go to waste. "Doesn't mean I'm going to."

"Not even if I said please?" Percy asks, making this face that has probably gotten him tons of favors. It's the kind of face that nobody can say no to. Good thing Nico's really good at being heartless. 

"You couldn't beg enough." He smirks. Percy blinks, and for a second, he looks taken aback, like he'd expected Nico to fall at his heels or something. Oh well. He'll have to try harder than that.

"You're cruel." Percy complains as their food arrives.

Nico bites into a fry and chews. "Don't you know it."

* * *

 

Percy's mother picks them up after about ten minutes of sitting in the rain. Nico's wearing Percy's jacket- not by his choice, Percy had insisted- and Percy's almost soaked, as he'd spent most of their waiting time, in the rain looking for his mom's car. Nico feels kind of bad about that, and he makes several attempts to give Percy his jacket back, but Percy refuses with a smile every time. "I'll be fine. I don't like rain, but it won't kill me." He says happily, even though Nico can hear how soaked his shoes are. Poor sneakers.

Sally- as she insists Nico call him because Ms. Jackson is her mother and she's not  _that_ old- asks for his address and agrees to drip him off at his house, which Nico appreciates. The last thing he needs is for his dad to pick him up and start asking twenty million questions. (Nico loves his dad but he's really nosy. Like, soap opera mom nosy. That's pretty darn nosy.) The ride back is comfortable, filled with Sally telling embarrassing stories about Percy that make Nico choke on air. (Apparently, Percy had once spent an entire week pretending to be a pirate. Nico reminded himself to use that as blackmail someday.) 

By the time Nico was home, his face was red, he could barely breathe and he was wheezing like an asthmatic. After nearly half an hour, Percy was quick to- politely- usher Nico to his front door.

"Oh, here's your jacket." Nico said, slipping out of the turquoise hoodie and handing it back to its owner. Percy shakes his head. "Nah, keep it. That one was getting too small for me anyway. Maybe you can wear it. Bet it'd look adorable on you." He doesn't let Nico even try to make an argument, heading back to his car and climbing into the front seat where his mother is still laughing. He waves as the car pulls off, smile way too soft to be teasing. Nico rolls his eyes and pulls out his key to unlock the door.

He fights the fliffy feeling in his chest with a vengeance, even as he holds the hoodie to his chest.

* * *

 

Jason's about ten seconds from losing his mind. He's pretty sure he needs rehab or something, because the thoughts running through his head are getting to be a little ridiculous. Thank God that no one he knows has telepathy or he'd be doomed.

He tells himself that it's not his fault. Anyone in his situation would think the same thing...right? 

Maybe he should start from the beginning. 

***                                                                         ***

Jason Grace has liked Leo Valdez since fifth grade. In the beginning, he thought it was nothing more than a crush. After all, he had plenty of girls lined up wanting to be his girlfriend. They were all over him, almost all the time. And why not? He was smart, about an eight on the attractiveness scale, and his parents had taught him to be polite. He was the perfect catch.

He went through all of fourth and half of fifth grade thinking that. Until one day in February, Leo Valdez came walzting into school. Jason found him a little weird instantly. It was freezing outside, but Leo was only wearing a Captain America jacket as protection from the cold. His cheeks were rosy red- which was saying a lot because his skin was the color of caramel so he had to be cold- and his hair was a mess of chocolate brown locks. His clothes had a few grease stains on them. To be honest, he looked like someone who wasn't in their right mind. It was his eyes that really sealed the picture though. Big brown, shiny things that fluttered around the room, taking in everything all at once, like he was fascinated by everything. It was cute, in a weird way.

Jason refused to believe that he would have anything to do with this kid.

He went about his life,  playing football and Uno. Getting good grades and acing almost every test. At recess he chased his friends around the playground. There were no disruptions. His life was perfect.

So of course, Leo had to walk in and break the calm silence. Jason supposes that it wasn't his fault. After all, it wasn't like he'd asked to be bullied. Pushed against the wall by kids older than him. He was only in fourth grade. He couldn't fight back if he tried. But he was trying hard when Jason found him.

"Lemme go!" He yelled fiercely, kicking at his assailants, a whirlwind of limbs that wouldn't hit anyone or anything but himself. "Gimme back my stuff! I need to go home!"

The tallest of his attacker- Jason doesn't remember his name or even what he looked like- sneered. "Why? You gonna run home to mommy? Tell her three big bad boys roughed you up? What's that gonna do?"

The three of the them burst into laughter, ugly chuckles that sounded like the drunk men Jason saw in movies. Not one of them noticed the way Leo had tensed.

"Don't talk about my mom."

The laughing stopped. "What did you say, runt?"

"Don't talk. About. My. Mom." Leo spat, eyes turning a little darker, brows furrowed into an expression of anger. 

"What?" The middle bully- Samuel, his name was Samuel Gray- said. "She leave your worthless butt behind with your weird dad? Decided you two weren't good enough for her? Maybe she-"

Samuel doesn't get to finish his sentence, words turning into a girlish shriek of pain. Who could blame him? Jason would scream too if he took a Nike to the nuts. Leo kicks him again, over and over, like he's unable to let go, and it's only then that Jason comes to his senses and rushes in to help. "Hey!"

Leo glances up at him, eyes wet and angry. His pause gives Samuel the chance to scamper off, his friends dragging him away, yelling insults about how they're going to come back. "What?" Leo sniffs, plopping onto the ground. His clothes are just as greasy as his first day in school, his hair even messier due to the fighting. "You want me to thank you or something?"

"For what?" Jason asks, sitting right next to him. "I didn't do anything. You're the one who kicked that guy in the balls. Had him squealing like a pig." That gets a half smile out of Leo, and Jason pats himself on the back for it. "Why were you so mad anyway?"

The smile disappears. "They were talking about my mom. She died when I was six."

"Oh." It's a terrible response to something like that, but it's all Jason has. He doesn't say he's sorry. Doesn't think it'll help anything, so he just sits there next to Leo until the bell rings, signaling the end of recess. Jason helps Leo stand and walks him to his line where his teacher is waiting for him. She starts in on him instantly, asking him why he's covered in mud and why his clothes are messed up. She doesn't even notice Jason walking back to his line, or the way Leo smiles after him when the fifth graders walk inside.

Jason doesn't see Leo for a while. Word of the fight had spread to the principal, and Leo had gotten suspended, along with the three bullies. Jason spends most of the time thinking of Leo. The little spitfire light in his eyes when he'd smiled. The anger on his face when he kicked Samuel in the crotch. He's about ten percent sure that he's got a crush on the boy, though he can't be sure. But he is a little irritated by the way his heart has a conniption when he thinks about Leo.

When he does see Leo again, it's right before school lets out for summer, the last week of class. Field Day to be exact. All the grades are outside. The third graders are playing by the playground, chasing each other or drawing on the blacktop with chalk. The fourth graders are concentrated on the four square game going on between three students and the music teacher. The fifth graders are playing hot potato with a bunch of water balloons, some of them giving up on the game and just throwing them at each other. Jason's soaked to the bone when Leo finds him. 

"Jason, right?"

Jason turns around so fast he nearly slips. Leo stands behind him, covered in chalk and grass stains. "Hey."

"Hi." Jason says, pointing to Leo's clothes. "What...happened to you?"

Leo points to a group of third graders who wave excitedly at him. "They like to pretend I'm their big brother. They also like chalk and tackling people." His voice isn't annoyed like anyone else's would be. Instead, he sounds fond, like he's always wanted siblings. "What about you?"

Jason points to the tub of water balloons. He doesn't have to explain any further. "So, what'd you want?"

"My mom told me that when someone helps you in a time of crisis, you should give them a gift of thanks. So here." Leo's had his hands behind his back for their entire conversation and he chooses now to move them, showing a folded piece of paper. Jason takes it and unfolds it, eyes widening at what he sees.

The picture is amazing. It looks so well drawn, with eraser marks everywhere, like Leo spent hours on it trying to make it perfect. Jason can see himself, sitting beside Leo, Leo covered in splotches of brown colored pencil. Jason's hair is bright yellow, his shirt a light baby blue. At the bottom of the picture, are two words in the barely recognizable scrawl of Leo's handwriting. 

_Thank You!_

Jason looks back at Leo, grinning widely. "Thanks! This is the best picture ever!"

Leo's grin is even bigger than his own, showing a few missing teeth. "Your welcome."

Jason's about to ask him if he wants to play with the water balloons, or maybe just sit in the grass and talk. (He has lots of stuff to talk about. Like if Leo's dad was mad that he got suspended. Why were his clothes always covered in grease? And what was up with his hair?) But he doesn't get the chance. The third graders that Leo had talked about earlier come rushing over, yanking on Leo's clothes and talking excitedly. Leo grins at Jason for a second, before he lets himself be pulled off to the playground. 

Jason gives up on playing with the water balloons, instead sitting in the grass staring at the drawing in his hands and watching as Leo is chased around the playground by a line of third graders.

***                                                                          ***

Jason holds the picture in his hands now, fingers grazing across the pencil marks on the page. He still thinks of Leo, that little fourth grader and played with the third graders with no problem, the little spitfire that kicked a fifth grader in the crotch for talking about his mom. The kid with the wild hair and even wilder eyes, with clothes covered in grease stains and mud. 

But now, when he thinks about that little kid, he thinks about what that kid has grown into.

When Leo was smaller, he looked thin, a twig to be exact. He was wirery and frail looking, like he hadn't eaten enough. But now, he's....

Leo's different. So, so different. His eyes still hold that wild-ness to them, but underneath that chocolate brown color, are sparks of amber, that make him look even more untamed. His hair is less all over the place, usually brushed behind his ears or hanging in his eyes since he obviously refuses to cut it. He's not so skinny anymore, body more curves than anything. His clothes are still covered in grease, but not as many stains are in them. He still wears hoodies instead of coats in the winter and his smile is still a little too close to being insane. 

Jason likes it.

But the last time he'd seen Leo, he'd had to do a double take. His eyes take a second to find their way to Leo's face, taking the scenic route up his body, looking at all the ways he's changed over the years. Leo had curves in middle school, and that earned him a few admirers. But now, as a freshman, the curves are everywhere. Shoulders lead to a pair of thin arms, with nimble fingered hands resting on wide hips that flow seamlessly into thighs and long legs hidden by red jeans.

Jason barely notices the angry boy that Leo is standing behind, nor does he notice the others. He knows they're there, he just doesn't care about them right now, too focused on Leo to care about anyone else. "Hi there." He says, forcing himself not to stutter like his heartbeat does.

 "H- hey." Leo says back to him, cheeks looking a little red. 

That's about all the interaction they get to have, as the rest of their conversation is highjacked by the angry new kid yanking Leo away.

Jason glances at Percy, who's too busy staring at the new kid. His eyes practically have hearts in them.

_Great._ He thinks as he sits back, letting his eyes linger on Leo as he's scolded by his friends. 

_We're both doomed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Jason. Poor unsuspecting, unknowing- and probably uncaring- Jason. What will I put his poor heart through next? *chuckles evilly* *chokes*


	10. The Infatuation Inconvenience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo contemplates how his childhood crush grew into something more. And Jason decides to try making friends with the spitfire kid from elementary school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly Leo and Jason- I hope, I didn't really check. Percy and Nico are being difficult to write again so this is kind of stress relief. Enjoy yourselves as I torture poor Superman and Repair Boy.

_It was an accident._

That's what Leo tells himself now as he wanders the hall.

_It could've happened to anyone. Anyone would have reacted the same way. It was nothing more than a response to a less than desirable circumstance._

He knows he's lying to himself. Has been for a while. Since seventh grade actually. That was the day he figured it out. 

It was the middle of October in Leo's seventh grade year when it happened. It was raining, like it is today, the sun blocked out by clouds and fat raindrops falling from the sky. The halls of his middle school are filled with the sound of sneakers squeaky from the rain, along with the voices of kids opening and slamming their lockers in an effort to get to class on time. Leo could never make it to class on time.

It wasn't like he didn't try. He tried hard. Grades were important to him, and as being tardy took off some of his grade, he hated being late. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter how much he tried, how fast he walked. He was always late to class.

It was never his fault. 

"C'mon Valdez. Stick up for yourself." One of the voices jeer, a pair of hands shove him into the wall behind him. "Be a man."

"Can't be a man with hips like that." Another voice jeers, and Leo flinches when someone grabs at his waist. "Look at him. He's so helpless."

He's not helpless. Leo has gotten into fights before, and cane out with minimal scratches. The people he fought always lost because they underestimated him due to his size. So what if he was a little more scrawny than most? He's not weak or helpless. But playing helpless does help with the element of surprise. "Don't touch me." He squeaks, adding to the helpless act, and his hullies practically coo at him like he's a puppy or something.

"So adorable."

"How cute."

"I could kiss him."

"I'd bang him senseless."

Okay, time for the act to go away, this is getting a little too personal for his taste. The hands are getting too close to areas that no else is allowed to touch, and he's approximately two seconds away from socking one of these three in the nose.

"Leave me alone. I need to get to class." He says, trying to push past the bodies blocking his way. He really does need to get to class. He has homework to turn in and questions to ask about the next project that aren't going to get answered if he's out here, being harrassed.

"Hang on there, bookworm." One of them moves, so he can't go anywhere. "It's just homeroom, it's not like you have a test in homeroom or anything, right?"

"Please just let me go. I don't want to get suspended again."

"And what would you get suspended for?"

"For kicking you in the crotch so hard,  that you cry for a month."

All of them look to where the new voice came from, Leo having to look even harder since his view is kind of blocked by arms and perverted faces. The voice in question belongs to a blonde boy. He looks like your everyday, all American golden boy, with blue eyes and tall, buff frame. There's a scar on his lip too, which kind of ruins the golden boy thing a little. He's smiling kindly, even though his eyes give off this sort of glint that makes Leo want to run in the opposite direction. (Not that he'd be able to thanks to the three stooges blocking his way, but the urge is still there.)

"Hey Leo." The boy says and Leo snorts.

"Hi, whoever you are. I don't need your help okay?"

"Doesn't look that way to me." The boy says, before glancing at the boys gathered around Leo. "I would leave him alone if I were you. I once saw him kick a guy in the nuts so hard, he screamed like a girl. And he cried a little. He's tough."

"Yeah right." The boy closest to Leo says. Up until now, he's had his hands placed firmly on the wall on both sides of Leo's head. But now he turns to the blonde boy and sneers. "Look at him." He glances back to Leo for a second. "He's a wimp. What's he going to do to me?"

He gets his answer in the form of a fist in the face.

Remember when Leo said that he wasn't weak? Well, he wasn't lying. The punch he throws sends his bully to the ground. The second bully recieves a hard jab to the solar plexus- a move learned via the Internet, thank you Google- and the third bully is sent to his knees with a sharp kick. To the stomach, not the crotch.

"That." Blondie smirks, answering the question even though the one who asked it a little too incapacitated to hear.

The doors of several classrooms burst open- because the sound of three guys getting their asses handed to them, really draws attention. At least three teachers take one look at the scene and tell Leo and blondie that they're going to be sent to the office to talk with the principal. Leo doesn't even try to play innocent, and neither does golden boy. Both of them let the Social Studies teacher escort them to the office.

About half an hour later- after an extensive lecture from the principal about keeping one's hands and feet to themselves- Leo and the blonde boy are released from the office with blue suspension slips. The slips will have to be signed by their parents, who will then have to come in and have a conference to discuss their kid's behavior and how they can help them 'change their ways'.

Leo learns that the boy's name is Jason,  and while that sounds familiar, he doesn't say anything about it. He does however, question Jason about his suspension slip.

"You weren't even a part of. You didn't hit anyone at all." Leo argues as they make their way back to their respective classes- because apparently sending a kid who just got suspended, home is too much work. "Why would you still take the slip?"

Jason shrugs. "I was a part of it. I may not have done any actual fighting, but I distracted them long enough for you to take them down, so I was a part of the fight . Therefore, it's pretty fair for me to be suspended." Leo just stares at him. "You are one weird guy. First, you help a kid you barely know, then you gladly take suspension right along with him even though you weren't even a part of the fight. You've got to be crazy."

Jason smiles at him, kind and bright, like no one else ever has. "Nah, I'm not crazy. Just don't like seeing someone get bullied like that. Reminds me of this kid I used to know."

Leo stops, not because Jason's comment surprised him- even though it did- but because he's in front of his class. Second period is halfway over, so walking in will be awkward, but Leo's not about to skip class. His dad's already going to kill him for being suspended, he's not very keen on dying with more pain because he doesn't want to go to math.

"Well-" he starts, voice cutting off a little because wow this just got extremely uncomfortable. "- this is my class, so I guess I'll be seeing you around."

Leo opens the door to his class at the exact second that Jason turns to smile at him. "Yeah. See ya."

Leo's pretty sure he sees Jason wink at him before he walks off. He's also pretty sure that his heart is beating a little faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just a short chapter since I wanted to put in some Leo and Jason. I wanted to add more to it, but I knew you guys were waiting and I hate delaying things. Plus my brain wasn't working with me, so I had to end it there. I swear the next Leo and Jason chapter will be better and hopefully longer


	11. The Protective Dad Dilemma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hades di Angelo is a lot of things. Paitient, caring and extremely protective of the people he cares about. Guess which one annoys Nico the most right now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep. This is the one. The chapter where I indulge myself on scaring Percy shitless. Go me. Whoop whoop.

Hades di Angelo likes to think of himself as a caring man. A family man. Someone you can trust with your kids. He also likes to think of himself as someone who would probably go to jail for taking the protection of his own children, a little too far. (It had almost happened once, he wouldn't really put it past himself to make it happen again.) 

He knows where his overbearing need to defend stems from.

He was one of six kids, with three sisters and two brothers. His sister Hestia  (God only knows why their mother chose that name) was an innocent one. Unlike the rest of her siblings, she didn't really like people all that much, especially people of the male gender. Unfortunately for her, the emotion wasn't mutual with most of the boys she met growing up. They fawned over her endlessly, making her life miserable by her standards. Hades understood why. His sister was pretty, and she was rather nice. (She could cook like no one's business too, and that always helps.) But she refused to be affiliated with any boy besides her brothers, whom she had no choice but to interact with. Eventually, it got to the point that she started asking her brothers for protection against her would be suitors. 

Hades and his brothers were more than happy to oblige.

Any boy that approached Hestia was met with three sets of murderous eyes, that sent him running real quick. Soon, Hestia had no one left who was foolish- or brave- enough to try to ask her out. She'd squealed with happiness at the knowledge, and hugged her brothers. (That was a big deal. She didn't hug guys at all. Like, ever.)

Hades would have to guess that that's where he got it. All those years protecting his sister had made his actions become habits.  His mother raised him to be a gentleman- though his brothers never seemed to be very good at following that rule- and so he spent most of his life looking out for people.

He met Maria di Angelo in college. Actually, he met her at a college mixer that she'd been dragged to. And her last name was really Morreti. Maria Morreti. She was a pretty girl, with hair that was thick, like caramel. Her eyes were the deepest shade of brown, though if Hades looked hard enough, he could find flecks of gold and even a little silver in them. Her smile was always warm, and she never got angry with someone without reason. In a way, Maria reminded Hades of his sister, Hestia, except Maria wasn't his sister. And she had an interest in him. They started dating when Hades was in his second year of college, and they married six months after Maria got her degree. 

Nico and Bianca were born, both on rainy days, both of them screaming like they'd seen death. ("Quite the pair of lungs on them.", Hades's mother had said.) The need to protect them became more impossible to quell than ever. It annoyed Maria to no end. All throughout the pregnancy of both her children, you could hear her sighing when Hades doted on her. "I'm not a porcelain doll." She'd say. "Stop hovering so much."

So Hades had dialed it back a little.

Of course, that proved to be a horrible decision when his wife was found dead in her car on the side of the highway, and his daughter was found in a ditch, his son crying at a nearby police station that he'd walked to.

Hades learned his lesson quickly. As much as his son despised it, he cracked down hard. He set curfews and kept tabs. Only two years ago, did he actually loosen up a bit, and that was only because Nico begged him to do so.

Which brought him here.

"So, you are in a relationship with my son."

* * *

 

Percy is fairly certain that he has never felt so terrified in his life. (And he'd watched scary movies alone. With the lights off. He knows scary.) The man sitting across from him looks like one of those mafia bosses, like the guy frim The Grandfather or something. He looks a lot like Nico, and to be honest, Percy sees why Nico acts the way he does.  He obviously inherited the grump from his dad.

Speaking of Nico, he is of absolutely no help right now, having gone into the kitchen to 'make some lemonade'. Percy doesn't know how long it takes to make lemonade, but he's sure it doesn't take twenty minutes because that's how long he's been sitting here having a stare down with Mr. di Angelo. 

"So." Mr. di Angelo begins, leaning over to place his elbows on his knees and clasp his hands together. The hands remind him of the dull ache in his hand, from when Nico's dad had mercilessly shaken his hand when he walked through the door. "You're in a relationship with my son."

Percy nods, though in the back of his mind, he's thinking that that should be obvious, he's not here for craps and giggles. "Yes sir." He says, using the manners that his mom taught him when he was four. Nico comes waddling into the living room with three glasses of lemonade- which explains his slow movements because he's clumsy and the cups are glass. Percy stands without thinking, reaching to grab two of the glasses so Nico only has to give one to his father. Percy hands him his own glass, and they sit together on the couch. 

Percy can feel Mr. di Angelo's eyes on him, studying him critically, but he doesn't pay it any mind now that Nico's next to him. Instead he stares into brown eyes and calms himself down. Nico's eyes are apologetic, as if he tried tk stop his dad from doing this, many times. Percy just shrugs. For as long as they've been dating, he's not surprised that Nico's dad would want to meet him. In fact, he expected it to happen sooner. He'd prepared himself for it, only to let his guard down when it didn't happen. Now he's beginning to see why that may have been a bad move.

"What are your intentions?" Mr. di Angelo says, after taking a sip of his lemonade and nodding appreciatively at his son.

Percy blinks. "I'm sorry, I don't understand the question. What do you mean by intentions?" It takes him about three seconds to figure out exactly what the man meant, and then he's mentally slapping himself for being such an idiot. Then again, it's a little difficlut for his brain to work properly, when Nico is busy staring holes through it.

"What do you plan to do now that you and my son are a couple? Are you going to hurt him?"

Not so long ago, Percy woukd have smiked sweet as candy and lied right through his teeth. He woukd have told this man that he would never hurt his son,  even though he fully planned on doing just that. Now, he doesn't know what to say. He's been with Nico for a while now, and things that he normally does just to get someone to like him, are slowly becoming habits. Like the habit of biting his lip that he's developed. Originally, it was just a tactic of amusement, just something he did so he could watch the girls watch him do it. Now, he does it out of nervousness. (There's also the fact that Nico ends up watching his lip whenever he does it, so there's a plus.) 

He glances at Nico, and his chest tightens at the anticipation that he finds in those eyes. Nico knows what he is. What he does to people. No doubt he's wondering if he's going to be another victim. Percy can see it; the silent question in his head.  _Am I next?_ Percy makes his decision with an amount of ease that unsettles him.

"No sir. I have no intentions of hurting him. Ever." His voice shouldn't sound so nervous. He's done this before, played the innocent, but confident boyfriend. This should nothing more than child's play to him. But Percy meets Mr. di Angelo's eyes and something in him chokes. This man would undoubtedly rip him to shreds for hurting Nico. He can tell. He's seen eyes like that. He sees them in his mother when she tells him to stop arguing with Gabe for his own good. Sees them in Annabeth when she tells him that his ideas of fun, aren't always that amusing, and are borderline criminal. These are the eyes of someone who would give up everything for someone else without hesitation. 

Why does Percy suddenly want to be like that? Suddenly, he wants someone to care about. He wants to have someone who means so much to him that he would give up everything for them. He wants-

No. It doesn't matter what he wants. All that matters is that he passes this test, and moves on. The quicker he fools this old man, the closer he is to breaking the boy next to him to pieces. That is all that matters. 

So why is it that thinking something like that, makes him feel hollow?

* * *

 

"I'm sorry." Nico says for what feels like the thousandth time this evening. "Really."

Percy laughs, as if he didn't spend a day at his boyfriend's house getting grilled by Nico's dad, less than twenty four hours ago. "It's fine. I get it. Your dad just wanted to make sure I wasn't any trouble."

"But aren't you?"

Percy turns to look at him, the setting sun glinting off his hair, giving him this weird sort of halo. The two of them are sitting beside each other on Nico's front porch. Percy's waiting for his mom to pick him up and Nico...has no clue what he's doing at all. He supposes that he's just keeping Percy company. That's what he tells himself anyway. That is his story, and he's sticking to it.

Percy's eyes look widened, like he wasn't expecting the question, or isn't prepared to answer. He opens his mouth to say something, but clamps it shut again, brows furrowing together like he's thoroughly troubled by Nico's question.

Nico tries to fix the mess that he can see he just made. "I mean, I was told that your goal was to leave a string of broken hearts behind. Doesn't that seem a little problematic from my point of view?" Again, Percy says nothing, though the way his mouth keeps opening and closing, does make him look like a fish out of water. (Nico won't admit it, but watching Percy be all nervous and quiet like this, it's a little fun. If a bit troubling at the same time.) 

"I...I dunno." Percy says lamely, once he says anything at all. "I'm just. I mean I-. I guess I'm just confused. I don't know if I want to do that to you, or if I want to do something else. I just, don't know."

Nico doesn't know how to respond to that. He can see that Percy isn't kidding, that he's really having trouble trying to figure all this out. His eyes dart around looking at everything but Nico, like he can't seem to stand the thought of glancing at him, and if Nico's eyesight isn't failing him, then Percy's definitely blushing. His cheeks are lined with red, and Nico thinks that it's kind of cute. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" He presses, since Percy isn't much help in this conversation. The question earns him a look of utter confusion, before Percy shakes his head. 

"No." He says quietly. "I think I just need to get my head together. Everything is just fuzzy, you know?"

Nico nods, because he does know. He's been that way too, with a head so clogged up with thoughts that all he could see was a white noise. Confusion blanketing him like a fog. Yeah, he's been there before, so he gets it. He lets Percy spend the rest of the time in silence, while he stares at the clouds overhead. It's starting to get rather chilly, and Nico distractedly wonders how long he'll be able to go to school with just a hoodie on. Putting on big coats isn't really his thing, but getting a cold is not on his list of things to do.

Mrs. Jackson's car pulls up about ten minutes later. Percy stands up silently, sending a distracted smile and wave in Nico's direction before he gets in the passenger seat and the car drives off. Nico peels himself off the porch, sighing at the burst of warm air that hits him when he opens the front door. The heat settles into his bones and he just kind of melts, toeing off his shoes and plopping onto the living room floor where he splays himself out like a starfish. He's completely intending to just lay there, maybe take a nap or watch some TV. (He saw that commercial for The Hunger Games on channel 119.)

Apparently, his sister did not care about said intentions. 

"Why didn't you tell me who you were dating?" Hazel asks about two minutes after Nico's found the remote and flicked the TV to the movie he's going to watch until The Hunger Games comes on. Nico moves his head to look at her, the rest of his body staying lazily still.  She's sitting on the couch by the window, glaring down at him with her arms crossed over her chest. She looks like a teacher scolding a child, and if her face wasn't so serious, Nico would laugh about that.

"I didn't think you'd want to know?" It comes out as a question because even he knows that that's a bit of a lame excuse. Hazel is his sister. There's not really a good reason why he wouldn't tell her something. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal. It's just a guy."

"No, it's Percy freaking Jackson. As in the two timing, backstabbing, heartbreaker. That Percy Jackson?"

"Really, that one? Wow, I had no idea." Nico snorts going back to the movie on TV. (Holy crap it's James McAvoy. Jackpot.) Hazel kicks him in the ribs. "Ow."

"I'm serious. He's bad news."

"I know."

"So why are you still with him?"

"I don't know."

"How do you not know?"

"I just don't know okay? Why does it matter? He's going to dump me eventually, and I'm not going to give a single solitary fuck about it. He's just a guy." 

"Language." Hazel sighed, before her the frown on her face became more of a look of exhaustion. "I know you won't care. But I've seen what he can do to people. I have no doubt that you'll be fine but I still worry. You might not be as strong as you think, and the last thing dad needs is to have to bail me out of jail because I commited murder."

"You really think you're capable of murder?" Nico smirked. A pillow landed on his face.

"Ever seen me angry?" Hazel asked.

Nico threw the pillow back up to the couch, groaning when he missed and sighing when Hazel got it for him. "No."

"Good." Hazel smiled innocently. (Nico could tell that she was trying to be scary but it wasn't really working for her. She was just too nice to scare him.) She stood and prodded his stomach with her foot. "And now that the doom and gloom, sisterly advice crap is over, I'm making dinner. What do you want?"

* * *

 

The car ride home was quiet. Percy stared out the window, trying to keep his thoughts from Nico, while his mother hummed along to some song on the radio. Percy knew his mom could feel his conflicting emotions. She always did. ("You ooze every emotion you feel,  it's kind of hard not to know.", she'd said once. Percy didn't believe that. He was convinced she had supernatural powers.) 

They walked up the stairs of their apartment building in silence too. Usually, they would have taken the elevator, but it was broken for some reason. Good thing they didn't need groceries any time soon. 

"So..?" His mother started as they walked up the second flight of stairs. "How'd it go?"

"How'd what go?" Percy asked, too busy thinking about brown eyes and sarcastic smirks to do anything more than breathe and walk. His mother sighed.

"His dad? Your boyfriend? Ring a bell?"

Percy blinked. Oh, that did happen. Right. "Oh, yeah. It went, well I guess."

He could feel his mom's eyes on him as they walked, and he forced himself not to make eye contact. If he made eye contact, she'd see right through him.

"You really like him don't you?"

Or, she might use her unnatural powers of mothering, and see through him anyway. Percy shrugged, letting his mom pass him so she could open the door of the apartment. "I dunno."

"How do you not know?" His mother placed her purse on the table, hanging her keys on the rack and toeing off her shoes. Percy shrugged again.

"I've never...this is just so.."

"Never had a crush before?"

"No." He felt a little lame saying it, but he wasn't going to lie to his mother. He'd never felt intimately attracted to someone before. Sure, he felt physical attraction before. Who hasn't? But this was something different entirely. This was the beat of heart stuttering whenever Nico looked at him. The urge to squeal like a teenaged girl at a One Direction concert when Nico was near him. It irritates him to no end, because even though he knows how he feels, knows how serious this is getting, he can't find a freaking name for it. Once, during class when he had the computer, he looked it up. Google hadn't helped. It just spouted nonsense about love and soulmates, and marriage.

Percy doesn't know what this is, but he knows he's not in love.

"Well, what are you going to do?" His mom is digging in the fridge now, a few containers of leftover food already on the counter. "This is obviously been on your mind long enough to annoy you, so you can't just do nothing about it."

"How do you know I'm annoyed?" Oh, he's annoyed. But having any excuse to delay talking about his feelings is decidedly better than actually talking about his feelings so he's going for that option.

Sally sighs and closes the fridge, walking to the cupboards and grabbing a few plates. "Percy, I'm your mother. I spent nine months with you in my stomach, about six hours in labor, pushing you out of me, and almost eighteen years raising you. I wiped your nose and kissed your wounds. If anyone on this planet is going to know when you're annoyed, it's gonna be me." She leans on the counter, arms crossed, face stern with soft, inviting eyes. "So? What do plan to do about this? You can't just leave him hanging like you did the others."

Percy freezes. "What do you mean 'others'?" He knows exactly what his mom is talking about. He just wants to know how she knows about what he's been doing.

"Once again, I am your mother. Plus I talk to your teachers. They tell me things. Although I never would have imagined that my son would be a playboy." Sally stares at him head on, daring him to lie and say that she doesn't know what she's talking about. (He didn't get his rebellious attitude from thin air.) "I know about all the others. I'm not dumb."

She's disappointed in him, he can see it in her eyes. She expects more from him, or at the very least she wants him to stop what he's doing. 

Percy hangs his head. "I'm sorry."

Sally pushes herself off the counter. "I know you are. And I can tell that this boy is something new for you. You've never been in love before and-"

"I am not in love mom." Percy hisses, nose wrinkling at the thought of something so horrendous. "I'm just confused."

Sally shrugged. Putting the containers of food into the microwave to heat. "I know you're confused sweetie. I just don't want this boy getting hurt because you're confused. Maybe you should try to get your head together before this gets any further." 

Percy nods, letting himself be shooed away like a fly. He kicks off his shoes and flops onto his bed. A few minutes later, he hears Gabe come in. Actually he smells him and before he hears him, the stench of stale beer and cigars assaulting his nostrils before Gabe's voice assaults his ears. He listens as his stepfather harrases his mother. He can hear him laughing at the same time that he can hear Sally fussing at him.

Percy thinks about the meaning of love. He thinks about all the movies with the topic of love. The ones about characters who's lives change because they met one person, or fate took control. Percy doesn't want that. Most people think of love as a key, to a cage that they've been trapped in. Percy thinks of it a ball and chain. Love is nothing but a hindrance. It gets people killed, sometimes ruins lives. Sure, it sounds great at first glance, but if you look closely, you can see what love does to people. He mentally uses his mother as an example. She fell in love with someone once, a love that was unrequited. A love that left her abandoned, heartbroken and three months pregnant with a baby with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. She was a good woman, who's love left her with nothing, so in the end, she was screwed no matter what. 

Percy doesn't want to end up like that. He loves his mom more than anything- this love is different, she gave birth to him, he has to love her. He just doesn't want to be like her. Alone and sad with nowhere to turn.

So love isn't an option.

And if Nico really is making him fall in love, then he's not going to be an option for much longer either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got a comment from someone about how Sally would react to Percy being a playboy. That got me thinking, and I'd already been planning for Percy and his mom to have a heart to heart. So I guess this worked out perfectly huh?


	12. The Study Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy's about two big fat D's away from a bad report card and a mild ass kicking. He has two weeks to get his grades up and he's getting a bit desperate. Good thing he's dating an honors student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I spent the weekend repeatedly watching Finding Nemo and stressing over a bad English grade, and after surving that, this happened. So I guess you can thank Pixar and my skills of procrastination for this chapter

Percy is certain that if he wanted to, he could write a full fledged, five paged, double spaced essay on the movie Finding Nemo. He could add in details about the movie and all the speculation about it. He could write about the character development of Marlin, as he goes from being stuffy and overprotective, to carefree and happy. He could talk about the easter eggs in the movie, with characters from other Disney movies popping into the background scenery. He could go on and on.

Unfortunately, having extensive knowledge of a movie about a lost fish, isn't going to help him write this English paper.

Actually, it's less of an essay and more of an extra credit writing prompt that his teacher let him attempt because he's kind of sort of failing her class, and she has no desire to have him in her class next year. (Mostly because he's always the one who never listens to a word she says and that ticks her off.) The prompt is based off of a book they were supposed to read. He's supposed to find three moments in the book that he can relate to. Just one problem.

He hasn't read the book yet.

It's not even just laziness- like his teacher had so rudely accused. Sure, how found reading the book to be a bit of a hassle and purposely avoided reading it, but it wasn't entirely out of laziness. Percy is unfortunately graced with this little thing called freaking dyslexia, which makes reading a book more headache inducing than hearing a small child pester you for an hour for nothing at all. He had tried multiple times to read the book, had even went to the library to get some quiet from Gabe's obnoxious voice, in order to do so. He didn't even get a whole three pages before he could feel a headache starting. The letters on the pages kept mixing themselves up, like a demented game of Scrabble. Words that shoukd have made since, looked more confusing than a labyrinth, and Percy was beginning to give up. To make matters worse, libraries are quiet, which is something that his ADHD did not appreciate in the least. He started feeling this urge to do something, even if it was just walk around the block. Sitting still just wasn't working for him, and eventually he got pretty irritated. He ended up calling his mom about 45 minutes into what was supposed to be a two hour study session, to come pick him up.

Needless to say, him and studying, do not get along under any circumstances. 

He'd like to think that considering his condition, he's doing pretty well in school. He made it this far, so he figures that that has to amount up to something. It's not like he flunked a year or anything. Sure, that had been a few close calls- because apparently he was pretty accident prone when he was younger and that had almost gotten him expelled a few times-but he actually got here despite all that. 

But of course, there's still the problem of his extra credit, and no amount of hoping or wishful thinking is going to help him now. He only has two options. Either he does the dang assignment, doesn't fail English and gets a good report card, or he fails and risks his mother pounding him into a pulp. (She may look like a nice lady, and she is. But behind that nice exterior, is a drill sargeant when it comes to education.) So Percy figures that he really has no choice now. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

That's how he ends up in Nico's room, on his bed, while Nico looks over his assignment. 

Nico hadn't been all that happy when Percy had come knocking on his door at noon on a Saturday. Maybe it was because he wasn't dressed or even remotely presentable for company. But Percy's pretty sure that he was mad because he was watching Steven Universe and Percy interrupted him. Whatever he was mad about, instantly disappeared however, once Percy showed him a printout of what was going to be his report card if he didn't get help. Nico had practically dragged him to his room, telling him to stay there while he got dressed.

Percy took that ten minutes to look around Nico's room. It was fairly normal, nothing out of the ordinary. His room was a scheme of grays and whites, his bedsheets a sort of charcoal gray while his walls were a lighter shade with one wall left white. He had a bean bag chair by the window, which was littered with a few loose clothing items, a couple of books and a potato chip bag. There was a book shelf on the far side of the room that was filled, some of the shelves stuffed with books, others overflowing with CD's and art supplies. The nightstand next to Nico's bed was home to several candy wrappers and a pair of earbuds and a worn out, faded looking photo depicting a young Nico with a girl, a woman, and his father.

Percy's just about to pick it up and take a closer look at it when Nico walks in, irritating Percy with the way his chest simultaneously collapses and puffs at the way he looks. His hair is damp and floppy, probably from the shower he just took. He's dressed in a pair of jeans with holes at the knees and a t-shirt for a band called Falling in Reverse. (Percy doesn't know the bad, but if Nico likes them, then they can't suck that much.) The shirt jas got to be at least one size too big because it looks like it's practically hanging off of him. Then again, now that Percy thinks about it, most of Nico's shirts do that.

"Alright." Nico says, plopping onto his bed and folding his legs indian style, making Percy's focus shift to how tightly his jeans grip his thighs. "Let's see it."

Percy hands him his assignment and his printout. Nico looks at the printout first, scoffing at it, than glancing up at Percy quizzically. "You're failing English?"

"It's harder than it looks okay?" Percy huffs.

Nico frowns. "Don't you speak English?"

"That's not the same, and you know it!" 

Nico raises his hands in defense and lets it drop, shifting to the assignment and reading over the requirements. "Did you read the book yet?"

Percy holds the book in his hands, up for Nico to see. "I got to the third page."

"Are you freaking kidding me?"

"Don't judge me, I don't like reading!"

"Your entire grade is hanging on this, that's not even close to a feasible excuse."

"It's not my fault okay?" Percy sighs, letting the book droo from his hands. "I just can't read like that. The words don't cooperate. They get all jumbled, and then I get a headache, and...it's easier for me to just avoid all that."

Nico blinks at him. "You have dyslexia?"

"And ADHD." Percy sighs. "Not the best combination for studying, huh?"

Nico shrugs at him. "Well the ADHD thing, I understand. I cannot tell you how many times I've almost failed because I couldn't focus. And my cousin has dyslexia, so I don't really know how that works but it looks like hell."

"It is." Percy says. "How does your cousin deal with it?"

"Audiobooks. They have them for almost every book in existence. I'm sure you could find one for your book on my dad's computer in his office."

"He wouldn't mind?" Percy asks, knowing that while Hades doesn't hate him, he doesn't exactly like him either. He's not sure that Nico's dad will be very pleased to find him in his office.

Nico rolls his eyes. "What dad doesn't know won't hurt him. Him and Persephone went on some kind of weekend couples thing. Left Hazel in charge, and she doesn't hate you, so you should be fine." Nico leads him out into the hallway, to a closed door. He opens it, revealing a room that is undoubtedly an office. It's smaller than Nico's room, but more organized with a desktop computer in the corner. There are a few shelves that are just as full as Nico's shelves are, and a carpet in the center of the room. 

"Well, here you are. Call me when you're done."

"Um, can you actually stay here? I might need help on this, and I don't feel very comfortable walking around your house to look for you." Percy wrings his hands, frowning at himself because his hands have never been this sweaty before.

Nico smirks. "You don't wanna run into Hazel do you?"

"Don't look at me like that, she may seem nice, but that glare would make Satan pee himself." Percy shivers at the last time Hazel had looked at him. It's not a very good memory. Nico's sister was terrifying. 

Nico snorts.  "Well if Hazel glared at Satan, then the big guy had it coming."

"Please?" 

Nico sighs, rolling his neck around so it cracks. He sits on the carpet, and stares up at Percy. "Well? I'm not going anywhere, better get started."

Percy rolls his eyes. It's going to be a long day.

* * *

 

Here's the thing about trying to work while Nico is in the room. You can't. Percy knows this firsthand. 

Nico lets him borrow his earbuds so he doesn't have to hear the audiobook, and he grabs a few books to read himself. In the beginning, everything was going pretty well. The audiobook started, and Percy listened. Nico was right,  this was so much better than actually reading. He didn't have any headaches from trying to decipher words. He just listened, and that was a lot better than reading. Unfortunately he also had ADHD, and one can only sit still long enough before one gets anxious.

Percy gets about maybe two chapters in, before his leg starts twitching, then his fingers. Next it's his whole body just screaming at him to  _move._ He starts fidgeting, and around chapter three, he stops the audiobook to take a break. 

He stands and stretches, expecting Nico to make a comment about him needing to get back to work. But when he looks over, he nearly loses it. 

It should be illegal to look that cute when you're sleeping. Someone needs to arrest Nico right now, because this isn't even remotely fair.

Nico's sprawled on the carpet on his side, hair hanging over his face. There's a book spread open just below his face, with a little puddle of drool starting to form on the pages- Nico drools in his sleep, as if he wasn't cute enough already. The oversized rock band shirt he's wearing hangs off his shoulder, showing off pale skin and just a hint of collarbone. He's snoring a little too, small noises coming out of him with every breath.

Percy had been able to keep himself calm before. Apparently being around Nico without actually speaking to him, helped a little. It also himdered a lot. A look at the clock by the door tells him that he'd spent almost an hour and a half listening to some guy read. Not once in that entire expanse of time, did he look in Nico's direction. He knew he was there, so he figured that there was no problem in not looking. He's never been so wrong in his life.

It's a recurring feeling to him now, the sudden elation at Nico's arrival at any point in the day. It's routine. The pounding heartbeat that he can hear, loud as a car accident. The way his body just kind of heats up, tenses and completely melts, where Nico is concerned. Just seeing Nico's face after periods of time- that seem short for everyone else, but for some reason, seem like forever to him- it energizes him like nothing else. Lately, he's been comparing it to the thrill of a serial killer. (While it isn't the best analogy, he saw it on a crime show and it was the only thing that made any sense to him.) The thrill of the chase, and the hunt. The elation of seeing what you wanted, finally come to prosper. Willing to tear something apart to get what you wanted, even if you knew it would rip you down with it. 

Great. He's thinking like a serial killer now. He hopes his mom has his bail money ready. God knows that if he keeps this train of thought going, he's going to end up in jail. 

But even with how intense these feelings get to be after a short amount of time out of Nico's company, they seem to get worse when Percy's around him. At least when he's away from Nico, there's only a feeling of intense longing. His head fills of thoughts of when he's going to see Nico again, and sometimes, he starts thinking of schemes to see Nico sooner. The feelings get even more intense when Nico is around. The longing goes away, replaced with a feral desire, a need to have him as close as possible. 

_Take him._ His mind screams at him. _He's yours. Take what belongs to you._

If Percy didn't know better, he'd think he was possessed by an incredibly horny demon. (Not that he'd blame that demon. Percy himself has gotten quite the amount of 'physical disturbances' in class just from thinking about hips and thighs and sweaty, pale skin.) But since he does know better, he knows that this is just him with his recurring lust and newfound thought processes that remind him of a guy he saw on Criminal Minds.

His brain is doing it now. Screaming at him to just throw caution- and everything else, including his clothes- to the wind, wake Nico up and take him right there on that carpet. It's then that Percy decides that he might be in need of a break. (And a therapist.) He only knows one person who could help him sort all this out, but he doesn't have a phone to use. His last cell phone had broken after one day without its case- the one day some ass decided to bump into him and knock it out of his hands. He needed to wake Nico up to ask for a phone, but the stupid voice in his head wouldn't let him.

(Wow, he just realized how creepy that sounded, like that was a sentence that was borderline psychotic.)

What he meant was that his conscience wouldn't let him awake Nico. If he was sleeping then he was obviously tired, and who was Percy to rouse him from his world of dreams?

(There, that's better. Now he sounds normal again.)

Still, he was having a bit of a crisis that needed another human to help sort out, and the human in question lived across town. Really he had to wake Nico up. It was either let him sleep or risk his sanity. So, he did the best he could.

He didn't want it to seem like he'd actually woken up. More like, he wanted a little 'push' to make Nico wake himself. He decided that a pillow falling off the couch and onto Nico's head would be sufficient. He plaved thet pillow on the edge of the couch, just above Nico's head. Then he sat back in the desk chair and put the earbuds back in to make it seem like he was working, just in time for gravity to take hold of the pillow and fall flat onto Nico's sleeping face.

Nico snorts awake with the grace of a dying seal. But apparently, that seal is a baby seal because no matter how loud and uncoordinated Nico's movements are, they're still slightly adorable. And Percy had decided that just-woke-up Nico, is a good Nico to have around. Nico's hair is a mess, sprouting from his head at different angles and lengths. His shirt has slid even further down his shoulder, revealing even more collarbone. His eyes are half bleary, half awake, his mouth sputtering as he sits up. 

"W- wha-?"

"Hey there Sleeping Beauty." Percy says, as nonchalant as one can be when they're repressing the urge to jump someone's bones. "Did your prince finally kiss you awake?" That comment gets less and less confident sounding towards the end, when Percy realizes that since he's dating Nico, he would be considered Nico's prince. (All of his flirting is coming back to bite him in the ass nowadays.)

Nico's face gains the color of a ripe tomato, cheeks lighting up like Christmas decorations. (Again, cute.) He wipes at his mouth with the heel of his hand, before he freezes, horrified. "Was I snoring?"

"A little." Percy says, leaving out the fact that he'd found it adorable. 

"Was I drooling?"

"Yep." Again, Percy leaves out the adorable part.

Nico frowns, red tint getting impossibly redder. "Did I say anything while I was sleeping?"

"If you did I didn't hear it."

Nico huffs a sigh, and groans, running his hands through his hair. If he was hoping to calm the raging bedhead, it doesn't help. He just makes it worse. "Are you done with the book yet?"

Percy shakes his head. "Just taking a break. By the way, can I use your phone?"

* * *

 

Percy doesn't know why, but it feels like all the people of the female gender, that he knows, can read him like an open book. 

His mother can do it, thanks to the supernatural gifts given to her by the Council of Moms. (A group of mystical beings who grant mothers the power of lie detecting and danger.) Piper can do it, because she just has the kind of eyes that if you look into, you can't lie. Rachel can do it because she's downright frightening when she wants to be, and Percy would rather be an open book with her than be ripped to shreds.

But Annabeth is so much better at it. Probably because she's known him all of his life, since like the second day of kindergarten. (Percy had another friend, Grover, who'd been just as terrified of her powers of deduction as he had been.) Annabeth always said what she thought. She didn't have a filter. In fact, that was how they became friends. Percy fell asleep in class, Annabeth was told to wake him up, and when the teacher wasn't looking, she told him that he drooled in his sleep. (Percy had believed her and did his best to stop drooling.) The two of them stayed friends since then, though Annabeth swore that she was just around to keep Percy out of trouble. She kind of acted as damage and impulse control for him. If they went shopping and Percy started gawking at something that he shouldn't, Annabeth would drag him away. When he was close to getting into a fight, Annabeth would glare at whoever dared to test him, and yanked him out by the ear. She was practically a second mother. So it made sense that he'd call her of all people to help solve his problem. 

Percy sat in Nico's kitchen, phone to his ear while he listened to the dial tone and waited for Annabeth to pick up.

"Hello?" She answered after the third ring. "Who is this?"

"Hey Annie." Percy sighed, glad that she was actually home for once. Usually whenever Percy called her, he had to leave like two messages and even then, she'd take a while to call back. Annabeth was always out doing something, whether she was with her family, or out on her own, so catching her on the first try was a rare thing.

Annabeth huffed. "I told you to quit calling me that, Seaweed Brain."

"And I told you that I would, as soon as you stopped calling me Seaweed Brain. You haven't stopped, so neither will I."

Another huff, that sounds more like a long suffering sigh. "What do you want?" She didn't sound busy, just annoyed, though she usually was annoyed when Percy started being a brat with her. She never had much tolerance for idiocy. (Which kind of made Percy wonder why she was friends with him in the first place. The amount of impulsive things he did could qualify him to be the world's biggest idiot.)

"I have a problem."

Annabeth's voice sounds thick with suspicion. "...Is there a dead person anywhere near you?"

"No..."

"Was there a dead guy in your vicinity in the last twenty four hours?"

"No."

"....You're not calling me from a jail cell, are you?"

Percy scoffed, feigning hurt. "No. Even if I was, you're the last person I'd call. You'd tell my mom, and if I didn't go to prison, she'd murder me."

There was a pause, a brief moment of silence when Percy could hear Annabeth hissing at one of her brothers to settle down. Then her voice was back again. "Alright, then what's the problem?"

Percy sighed, trying to think of the best way to go about this. He couldn't be subtle about it, subtlety wasn't his thing. But he also couldn't just rush in. He'd done that with Nico and now look where he was. A confused mess. He figured it'd be better to be blunt but ease into it. 

"Remember that kid I asked out?" He asked, twirling a pen in his hand to distract himself so he didn't screw this up. He needed help, and he was going to get it.

"The new kid? Um, Nick? Nicholas? No no, Nico. Him right?" Annabeth questioned.

Percy did his best to calm the butterflies in his stomach at the mention of Nico's name. Of course, it didn't help much, but at least he tried. "Yeah. Him."

"Did you dump him already?"

"No!" Percy hissed. "In fact, that's kind of why I called. My problem is that I can't dump him. I don't want to, for whatever reason."

He could imagine the way Annabeth looked just by her tone. She'd have one of her eyebrows raised, a bit of a smirk playing at her lips. "So you like him?"

"No! Yes...? Urg, I dunno."

"Well, how do you feel when he's around you?"

Like he could fly. Like a fire had been lit in his chest, a fire that only intensified when Nico was near him. He was so happy he could combust. When Nico was with him, he wanted nothing more than to lock the two of them away from the world and ravish him endlessly. He wanted to cuddle him forever, squeeze him silly, and kiss giggles out of his mouth. He wanted to taste those lips against his, even for a second just to know how it'd feel. He just wanted  _him._ All to himself, with no interruptions, ever.

But obviously, he couldn't say that. So he settled for being an ass. "I dunno."

"Oh come on!" Annabeth groaned. "Just admit that you like him. What's it going to hurt? Your reputation as a heartbreaker? So what if you fell for him, grow some balls already." There went whatever resemblance of a filter Annabeth might have had. Now she was getting to the nitty gritty. Good. Percy needed that.

"I have plenty of balls." He hissed. "And I'm not in love."

"I never said you were." He could hear the smile in her voice. "But since you're so defensive about it, I'm definitely going to think that you are."

"I'm not."

"Whatever you say." Annabeth sang. "Dibs on bridesmaid, when you guys get married."

Percy hung up on her. He shook his head, silently wondering why he was still friends with that girl. One second, she knew it all, she was this professional person with an aura that would make the president bow to her. The next, she was teasing, using her intellect to figure things out and use them as leverage. (She'd make an excellent politician.)

But she did have a bit of a point. He had been being a bit of a wuss about this. He was afraid to directly wake Nico up. That was a little pathetic. He was Percy freaking Jackson. Heartbreaker of the century. Difiler of the innocent. Wrecker of love. The last thing he needed to worry about was some sarcastic freshman who was too smart for his own good.

Yeah. He could do this. He would do this. Nothing could stop him.

Of course, all that confidence was flushed down the drain when said sarcastic freshman waltzed into the kitchen, and ordered him to get back to studying. Percy went from confidence level twenty, to stress level sixty in two point five seconds. His brain stopped cooperating, which made his mouth malfunction, so he ended up stuttering all the way back to the office.

Nico plunked him back into the chair, sending him a pointed glare that would rival any mother, before he went back to reading. Percy sighed as he plugged the earbuds back into his ears, and glanced at the clock.

3:09pm. 

He makes the mistake of glancing at Nico again, forcing himself to look away after a minute because his pulse shouldn't be this quick. He sighs again, and presses play.

God help him.


	13. The Mom-Friend Malfunction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mom-friend  
> The one friend in your friend group who's super responsible and overprotective of the rest of the friend group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think you can trust me, you are wrong, because I totally used Urban Dictionary to define Mom-friend

None of them really knows when it happened. There wasn't really a specific or exact time that they noticed it, maybe it just happened. None of them even questions it anymore because it's so simple, and so believable. It just makes sense.

Leo likes the think that he knows when it started though. It'd been raining that day, the grass wet and slippery from the water, so the bottoms of his shoes were bound to slide. He probably shouldn't have been running as fast as he had been, but Cecil had his bag, and Cecil was not slow in any shape or form. Will had warned him. 

"You're gonna slip, slow down you idiot!" He'd shouted down the hall as Leo took off in chase of Cecil. Leo had meant to round that corner in the hallway with speed and control. What he hadn't seen coming, was the slick rain on his shoes, making him skid, trip and ultimately, land face first into a wall. Hard.

It had hurt like hell. He could feel something wet dripping from his nose and onto his lips. When he pulled his hand back from his nose, his fingers were stained red. He could hear laughter, snickers among the crowd of other students in the hallway who'd seen his blunder. He could hear Cecil too, rushing out apologies as fast as his mouth would move.

Will and Nico had sprinted down the hall to get to him, Nico himself almost skidding when he tried to slow down. Nico had helped him up while Cecil was sternly chewed out by a rather angry William Solace. Will had told- ordered- Nico and Cecil to go to class, while he personally escorted Leo to the nurse's office, giving him tissue to hild to his bleeding nose, and glaring daggers at anyone who dared laugh.

Leo doesn't know how it happened for the rest of his friends, but that's how he came to know Will, the momfriend. 

"What the hell is a momfriend?" Will had asked when the subject was brought up during lunch. The curse word had earned him a slap from Nico. The two of them had a sort of game going between the two of them, and if one of them cussed, the other got to slap them.  (Needless to say, Nico had gotten slapped way more times than Will had.)

Lou Ellen had looked the word up on Google. "A momfriend is that one friend who protects all the other friends in the group, by either keeping them out of trouble, or even just offering advice. Basically, it's the friend who acts just like a mom would." She glanced up from her phone screen with a smirk. "Yeah. That's you all the way."

Will frowned. "No it isn't! I don't do that. I just take care of the people closest to me."

"Wow, you even sound like a mom."  Cecil murmured. Will frowned even harder.

"Give me one example of me being a momfriend."

"Okay." Lou Ellen shrugged. "Remember in thrid grade when Rowan Walters kept yanking my hair, and you almost beat him to a pulp?"

"That was one time." Will huffed. "And that little asswipe had it coming after he hit me in the face with that basketball during gym." He winced as Nico whacked him in the arm for the curse word.

"I have one." Cecil said. "When my allergies kept acting up, you gave me tissues."

"Anyone would do that." Nico stated.

"Maybe. But does everyone keep tissues in the pocket of their hoodie at all times?"

"I do not!" Will argued.

"Empty your pockets." Cecil dared.

Will had stayed silent.

* * *

 

That was the revelation that brought them here. Will had accepted his role, going so far as to even step up his protective instincts. When someone neglected to do their homework, they recived quite the tongue lashing from him. When Cecil got sick over the weekend once, Will had dragged everyone else along to Cecil's house to take care of him, as Cecil's dad was out of town for a bit. Will had even threatened to brutally murder Percy if anything happened to Nico. (Percy had given him his word hut that wasn't the point. Will threatened to kill him.)

William Solace was a momfriend through and through. 

So of course, he just had to be present when Leo got the piss scared out of him.

He'd been at his gym locker, grabbing the hoodie that he'd left in it during his rush to lunch. Will stood next to him, tapping away at his phone, while he chastised Leo for the amount of dirty gym clothes in his locker. Eventually, Leo was pressured to take them home and wash them. He shoved his clothes into his bag and was just slamming his locker when the voice behind him popped up.

"Leo?"

"Jesus freaking Christ on a bicycle!" Leo whipped around, hand pressed to his chest as he glared at the person in front of him. "Who the hell-?"

"Hey." Said Jason's Grace, leaning against the lockers all nonchalant, like he hadn't gone all Predator and scared Leo crapless. "Are you okay?"

"No I'm not okay!" Leo screeched, clearing his throat to fix the feminine tone his voice had begun to take. "You scared the hell outta me! Warn a guy next time!"

Jason smirked, eyes glinting playfully. "Sorry."

"Liar."

Jason snorted.

"What do you want?" Leo sighed as he closed his bag and tossed it over his shoulder. "My dad's going to be here in five minutes." He wandered past the blonde, Will following him diligently, still texting. (His mom-senses hadn't kicked in yet, so Leo assumed that he was okay.)

Jason jogged to catch up with him, long legs taking one step for every two steps that Leo took. "Well, you know that bew movie that came out this month? The one about the twins who fight in the zombie apocalypse?"

"Twinpocalypse?" Leo recalled, as he remembered the awesome trailer, and the heartbreaking realization that he was broke and wouldn't be able to afford the tickets to see such an looking awesome movie. "Yeah, I've heard of it. Why?" 

They were at the front doors now, and Leo pushed at them, shivering at the cold that hit him the second he stepped outside. It was getting colder by the day, as fall slowly turned into winter. Leo would have to start wearing more than just a jacket, even with his unusually high body temperature. 

Leo's dad was nowhere in sight. Late as usual. Leo sat on one of the benches, wiggling his butt because the seat was metal, and cold. Jason sat next to him, Will placing himself on his other side. His headphones were in now, and Leo could hear the beat of a Fall Out Boy song playing.

"Well-" Jason started, rubbing at the back of his neck like a nervous child. "- I bought the tickets online a week before the movie came out and I was supposed to go with my sister to see it but then she said she didn't want to see it, so now I'm left with an extra ticket, and I was wondering if maybe you'd want to come see it with me." The sentence was said all in one rushed breath, so it sounded like one word, but Leo got the gist.

"Um, sure." He shrugged. "When is it?"

"This Satuday at eight."

"You got tickets for opening night?" Leo gawked at him feverishly. Opening night tickets were nearly impossible to get unless you knew a guy and even then you had to pay an arm and a leg for them. "And you just got them online?"

Jason shrugged. "I really wanted to see it. I like zombies okay?"

Leo could understand that. He liked zombies too. (He liked them enough to have watched all the seasons of The Walking Dead in almost a while weekend, as well as repeatedly watch Zombieland. Plus, when he had an Xbox, he owned a plethora of zombie related games.) "Okay." He smiled. He could see his dad's truck speeding into the parking lot, and he stood up, tapping Will on his shoulder to make him stand up. He was Will's ride after all. "I'll see you on Saturday then."

"Wait!" Jason blurted. "Can I have your phone number? Y'know, so I can call you when I come to pick you up?"

"You're picking me up?"

"I want to. What kind of person doesn't pick up their date?"

Leo blanched. It was a date? 

Holy crap. 

Christ on a bike.

Satan's uvula. 

He had a date.

Leo gave Jason his number- forgetting the last three numbers and having to look them up- before he stuttered out a goodbye and climbed into the truck.

"What was that all about?" Will asked, as he'd apparently seen the whole thing.

"I think I have a date this Saturday." Leo blinked, right before he flew forward as his dad slammed on the brakes.

* * *

 

Leo's dad hadn't liked the idea. 

"You're so young." He tried to argue as Leo threw on a coat. (It was cold now, so as much as he liked his jacket, it wouldn't keeo him warm anymore. He still worr it under his coat though. Old habits die hard.) His dad had been trying to stop him from going on the date all week.

Leo scoffed. "Dad. I'm fifteen."

His father frowned. "Really? Since when?"

"Since my birthday?"

"Oh." Hephestaus muttered before his chest puffed again. "Still, that's practically a baby! You're too young to be thinking about dates."

"Dad."

"What if tries to kiss your something? Or tries to make a move on you? What're you gonna do?"

"Dad..."

"And what if he's an ass? He could be an undercover rapist for all you know. He might be a convited felon who changed his name. Do you want to take the chance of dating a felon?"

"Bubby!" Leo huffed, using the name he called his dad when he was younger, to calm him down a little. "I'm going. I can't just cancel on him. Besides, I already gave him the address he'll be here any minute."

His point was proven as the doorbell rang, and his dad growled.

"Bubby..."

"Ugh, fine." His father sighed. "But I want you back by ten thirty, no later. And if you're going to sneak in food, put it in your hoodie pockets so nobody will notice. And if you come back here with a hair out of place, I'll-" 

"Bubby!" Leo laughed. "I'll be fine. I'm not a kid anymore."

Leo could've sworn that as he rushed to answer the door,  he heard his father mutter "That's what I'm afraid of."

* * *

 

There were a lot of things that Leo had expected from this date. In fact, he'd kind of anticipated them since Tuesday, when the date was made. Of course, his brain had gotten a little carried away- because obviously, Jason wouldn't be terribly mannered as to go for a kiss on the first date. But still, he saw some stuff coming.

He expected a least one flower. Nothing big, just a single tulip or something. (What he got was an entire bouquet of vibrant red roses, bashfully shoved into his face the second he opened his front door.) He also figured that Jaason would try to be chivalrous. Leo didn't know him all that well, but he knew the guy had manners. He wasn't disappointed either. (Jason held the door of the car open for him, and he even shook Leo's dad's hand before doing so.)

But with all the things that Leo had seen coming, none of them woukd have been as glorious as the black car parked on the curb in front of his house. It was a Camaro, black paint shining in the slowly lowering sun, so sleek that Leo could have drooled.

As Jason opened the door for him, Leo did drool a little. The interior was beautiful. Black leather, that was actually clean, devoid of food particles and clumos of dirt. So unlike his father's truck. And even better, it was a stick shift.

Oh God, he could have cried happy tears. Leo had a thing for cars. He loved them all, growing up as a mechanic's son had taught him to appreciate the greasy beauty of horsepower and torque. His room was decorated with drawings of cars and model cars, along with the occasional model plane because hey, what the heck. 

But this, this was better than anything he'd ever seen.

"-y dad. Dad, this is Leo Valdez." Jason's voice pulled him out of his reverie just in time to be introduced to Jason's father. He was an intimidating looking man, with wild eyes and hair the color of salt and pepper. His smile was calming and dangerous at the same time. "Hey son. Name's Zeus. Nice to finally meet the boy my son's been losing his head over." He stuck his hand out in Leo's direction, and Leo took it firmly, while Jason hissed at his father to stop embarrassing him.

Leo paused. "Zeus?"

"It's not his real name." Jason sighed, the tips of his ears a little pink. "His real name is Zander, but he didn't think it sounded manly enough. Plus he was Zeus for a Halloween party last year,  so the nickname sort of stuck."

"Damn right it did." Zeus grinned, at Leo through the rearview mirror.

"He drives a stick?"

"Sure do." Mr. Grace piped up before his son could answer. "I like sticks better than manual. Takes more concentration. Plus, I like the way the engine rumbles. You like stick shifts kid?"

"Love them." Leo grinned, as Zeus shifted gears, weaving in and out of traffic like a pro. "My dad has an old stick shift in our garage. He says that if I can fix it up before I get my license, it's mine. I'm almost halfway done."

Zeus hummed in approval, glancing back at his son just long enough for Leo to get curious enough to look as well. He was met with vibrant blue eyes, that trapped him in their gaze. Jason was staring at him, face unreadable. 

"What?" Leo asked.

Jason blinked. "I didn't know you liked cars."

Leo shrugged. 

* * *

 

Among the other things that Leo had expected of this movie date, he'd especially expected the movie to be awesome. 

His expectations had been crushed.

He and Jason walked into the theater together, Jason using his phone to cash in his tickets before they headed for the concession counter. Leo had informed Jason of the food he'd snuck in using his hoodie, only to have Jason scold him for doing so, before making him empty his pockets in his dad's car. Then Jason had let Leo order whatever he wanted, and paid for it himself in cash. Leo had rolled his eyes when Jason held the door open for him when they walked into the theater that was showing their movie. And he scoffed when Jason reached his hand out to snatch the box of SweetTarts from Leo's hand, even though he specifically said he didn't want anything.

They watched the previews in relative silence, only interrupted by the sound of Leo's chewing. There were a few more good movies coming out soon, though Leo doubted he had enough money to pay for tickets to all of them. (When he informed Jason of this, the blonde had whispered back, "We can always come back later." The promise of the sentence didn't go unnoticed.) 

The movie started, a hush falling over the theater as the main character started narrating. Pictures of the so called zombie apocalypse, were on the screen in vivid detail. People being eaten alive, zombies chasing a group of people. It was gory, with enough blood to make a soccer mom puke. 

While the introduction was fantastic, the actual movie, was not. For one, the two girls who were twins, didn't look like each other at all. They hardly fought any zombies, and when they did, it was wimpy and always ended with them running away instead of actually killing anything. To make matters worse, the story was focused on the love triangle between a male survivor and the twins, who both fell for him. (At least he could fight zombies, the girls seemed to suck at it.) In the end, they ended up killing the guy after he was turned into zombie due to their incompetence. The ending was just more narration about why you should never fall in love during the apocalypse. (As if that was lesson that even needed teaching.)

"Wow." Leo said, as they walked down an empty street. They'd left the theater a while ago, just wandering around with no real aim or destination. Jason walked close to him, picking a few popcorn kennels out of his teeth with his tongue. "That movie kind of sucked ass."

It took him about five more steps to realize that Jason had stopped following him. He turned to find him red faced, cheeks puffed, and trembling. "What?"

Jason lost it. He laughed loud, almost maniacally. By the time he had calmed down enough to be capable of speech, his face was the color of a ripe tomato. "Nothing." He wheezed as he wiped tears from his eyes. "I just didn't take you to be the kind of person who curses."

"Really?" Leo blinked. "Boy are you in for a surprise. My dad says that I cuss more than him. And that's saying a lot because he cusses like an angry sailor."

"I just can't imagine you with a potty mouth." Jason chuckled.

"And I never imagined you to be the kind of guy who says potty mouth, but look where we are now."

"Actually, I don't think I know where we are." Jason murmured, glancing around him at what to him, was an unfamiliar area. Leo on the other hand, knew exactly where he was. 

When Leo was younger, his family hadn't exactly been wealthy. In fact, they were usually scrounging for money in any way that they could. His mother worked at a local body shop full time, and took a few extra hours working at a daycare when they needed extra money. His dad worked at another auto shop in another town over- at least an hour drive- and he taught high school students at a local school for kids interested in auto body work. Even Leo himself tried to pitch in when he could, making lemonade and selling it on busy corners, or watching the neighbor's pets for money. When he was old enough, he even started mowing lawns and shoveling snow for some extra pocket cash. His offerings didn't make much a difference in the long run, but his mother praised his hard work so he was happy to keep doing it.

The neighborhood he and Jason stood in now was the same one he lived in before. The houses were unkempt, some of them with boarded up windows or old cars sitting in the driveways. Some of the houses had porches, almost all of them occupied by a senior citizen in a chair looking out at the street. The sidewalk was uneven, though that didn't seem to faze the kids riding their bikes on it. The street was bumpy, with potholes, though no one noticed, or seemed to care. The was music blasting from one house, Leo could hear the bass from here, even though the house in question was halfway down the street. Leo couldn't remember if the neighborhood was this sad when he lived here. Was is always like this? Did the air smell like cigarettes before? Were there always this many police cars patrolling the area? Was that old man on that porch always so intimidating?

"Leo?" Jason asks, and Leo feels a gand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Leo smiles, even though he's nowhere near being okay. "I know where we are. I lived here when I was younger so I know this place like the back of my hand. 

"You used to live here?" Jason stares at him with surprise, as if he wasn't expecting to hear that. Leo supposes that he can't really blame him. His friends hadn't believed him at first either. They hadn't believed that he had lived in this neighborhood, that his parents barely made enough money to keep them fed and pay bills. And they certainly didn't believe him when he said that the time he spent here, was the best time of his life. Not because of the house, or anything as silly as that. 

It was because in that house, as small and homely as it was, it held memories. The last memories of his mother. The last time she'd laughed at him, smiled and kissed his forehead, before a drunk driver rammed her off the side of the freeway on her way to work.

"Yeah." Leo chokes, chest seizing as he remembers crying at his mother's funeral. 

Jason seems to notice the way he's started sniffling, because suddenly there's a warm arm around his shoulder and his face is pressing into the fabric of a shirt. "You okay?" Jason asks, hugging him like he's about to break, even though he isn't. This isn't the first time he's cried about this, and he doubts it'll be the last.

"I'm fine." Leo says, trying to find the best way to explain how he's feeling, without sobbing like an infant. "It's just...my mom, she...the house." The words aren't coming out like they should, choking him instead of escaping. Jason squeezes him harder, saying that he understands if Leo doesn't want to talk. They just stand there, in the center of the sidewalk, Leo starting to cry and Jason completely fine with the increased wetness on his shirt.

They must look like idiots. 

Leo tells him that, when he finally gets himself together, and Jason laughs. They start walking again, Leo telling Jason about his neighborhood as he leads them out of it. He shows Jason the park where he jumped off the swing and landed so hard that he knocked out a tooth. He points at the tree that he and his mother had tried to climb in a spurt of silliness.

All the things he can remember about this place, he shares. Maybe he shouldn't be telling this to someone who barely knows him. But right now, Leo couldn't care less about the stranger danger rule. Doing this is lifting a weight off of him, and if Jason is willing to help lighten the load a little, Leo's going to relieve himself.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, to be honest, this really wasn't all about Will being a protective little shit. But I liked the chapter title and I was too lazy to rename it, so here we are.


	14. Innocence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally's always believed that her son is innocent. But there are beginning to be times when she thinks the exact opposite. Percy is many things, but he is in no way innocent anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to show a different perspective of the story, and I figured 'What better way to do that than to show Sally's point of view?' So this is how Sally sees her son's relationship with Nico.

Sally Jackson has always believed that her son was the very picture of innocence. Honestly, who wouldn't? When he was younger, he was the kind of kid that cried at Disney movies and tried to wear his Halloween costume to school. It's very difficult to imagine him being anything other than angelic. 

However, she knew that eventually, that innocence would fade. Every mother has that period of time when they worry for their child and Sally had been having that worry period since her son's tenth birthday. Of course she knew that Percy wouldn't stay perfect forever. For God's sake, he's in high school, about to become an adult. She's surprised that he stayed as clean as he did, though she was surprised to hear that he really wasn't as clean as she'd thought.

Learning that her son was a playboy had definitely been a bit of a shock. Percy was a kindhearted person, someone you could trust. But the longer she thought about it, the more she saw the signs. The mischievous look in his eyes that was always there, the smirks that at one time, had been genuine smiles. She started thinking that it did make sense, as much as she didn't want to believe it. Her son wasn't what one would categorize as unattractive. He gained most of his good looks from his father, from the eyes that never knew what shade of blue they wanted to be, to the thick, black hair that grew atop his head. The older he got, the more he looked like his dad, and Sally figured that if she fell for a face like that, there was no reason why anyone else wouldn't. 

Still, as much sense as it made, she wants to believe that her son as still her precious little boy. But there are times that she just knows.

Percy is anything but innocent.

* * *

 

She hears him late at night, usually around two or three in the morning when she wakes up to a cold bed. She knows that Gabe isn't there, but she doesn't want to know where he is. She's a bit more worried about the sounds filtering through her bedroom wall. The one bad thing about having an apartment- besides the stairs- is that the walls are thin as paper. Sally's pretty sure that she could hear a pin drop if she listened hard enough. But the noise coming in is louder than a pin, and a bit more concerning. 

"...nngh..hah...hah...ahh"

For once, Sally is glad that her husband is off on one of his midnight escapades. She's sure that if Gabe had heard what she'd just heard, he'd have no problem marching into Percy's room and tearing into him. He's never liked Percy anyway, hearing this would just give him an excuse to give the boy hell. Still, just because she's glad Gabe can't hear it, doesn't mean that she wants to hear it.

"Mmm...nn..hah"

Sally does her best to shut it out, to block the noise that is obviously coming from her son. She was a teenager once so she knows that having a parent know that you pleasure yourself, is a little awkward. It's happened to her a few times before, and the embarrassment had been crippling. The last thing she wants, is to embarrass her son, but she also doesn't want to hear him. 

Quietly she creeps her way out of bed, as not to alert Percy of her awakened state, and pads to her closet. She remembers recieving a sound machine a few years back from an old high school friend. She hadn't believed that she would actually need to use it, not to mention the fact that she couldn't use it if she wanted to. Gabe hates it. (Says he doesn't want to listen to whales as he's sleeping.) So Sally had just kept it in the back of the closet, having no use for it, but being too polite to simply throw it out. Now she's glad that she kept it. 

She carefully reaches behind all her summer clothes- she stores them on her closet shelf during the cold months- and pulls at the box containing the machine, squinting at the instructions on the side of the box. The dim moonlighr makes it hard to read, but she manages, and finds that the sound machine runs on batteries. She steals a few from a package in her nightstand and clicks the machine on, reading the noise settings until she finds the label 'Ocean' and turns the volume low.

The new sound does help a little, though she can still hear her son's voice filtering in. She does her best to concentrate on the sound of waves and seagulls, but it's not hard to pinpoint the moment that Percy loses it, and the moment that he gets up to clean himself off. She sighs as she hears the sink running, shutting off, then hears blankets shuffle. A few minutes later, she hears snoring, and she sighs again.

She tells herself to look on the bright side of things. Her son might have lost a bit of his innocence, but at least she doesn't have to give him the sex talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. My brain is filthy right now. 
> 
> Also, I deeply apologize for the short chapter. I got sick and I swear I'm working on another- hopefully longer- chapter, right now.


	15. The Everything Enigma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lately, Percy's been noticing a lot of new things. Some of them seem pretty important, and he's sure that he should remember them. But most of them are trivial things, not significant in any way, nothing that he really needs to know. But for some reason...
> 
> He wants to know anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it's been a long time since my last update. (At least it has been for me.) Sorry about that but school has kicking my butt from all directions. But since there's been a bit of a lull in the chaos, I figured I could post this chapter.

Percy has a lot of bad habits. He knows it because he gets told that a lot. By his mother, Annabeth, and Piper on occasion.    
  
According to them, he's reckless, doing things without thinking twice about them. He's also loyal, like an old dog to its owner. His mom had told him once that she wouldn't be surprised if he took a bullet for a friend one day. He also has a habit of becoming attached quickly, which usually ends in tears for him. (Like when his fish died, or one of his friends moved in third grade.) He likes to ignore things he doesn't care about, and he says the worst thing at the worst times.   
  
Lately though, he's picked up a new habit. Watching Nico.    
  
He supposes that it's not really a new habit, considering that watching Nico was what got him here in the first place. Of course, that had just been relentless staring. This is different. Instead of watching for fun or to see Nico get pissed and stomp up to him to tell him off, Percy watches to learn.   
  
Lately he's been noticing a lot of new things. Some of them are important, and are probably things that Percy should have already known. But other things are trivial, not especially significant in any way or another, but just little tidbits of information.    
  
Like the fact that Nico's nervous or stressed, he nibbles on anything in his hands. When he studies for a test that he doesn't think he'll pass, he chews on his pencil- which leads to his writing utensils being covered in teeth marks. If he gets anxious while out in public, he always has a snack in his pocket to chew on, whether it be gum or a pack of Skittles. And if he's nervous and has nothing to chew on, he bites his nails, which explains why he has no real nails, just nubs.   
  
Or how he can't keep his leg still no matter what he does. It's always his right leg too. If he's sitting in a chair, you can bet your butt that his leg is bouncing relentlessly.    
  
Percy's also noticed that Nico's clothes have a pattern to them. He almost always wears some form of black, gray or white. In fact, Percy can't remember the last time he'd even seen him wearing an actual color. Just black. Percy doesn't judge though. Nico looks good in black. It suits him, like he was pulled from one of those old timey black and white movies or something.    
  
Percy finds the fact that he knows all these things, to be a bit unnerving. If anything, it's a bit of a problem. Lately, Nico's been taking the initiative to help Percy get his grades up. On weekends, Percy just swings by his house and they spend all day in the kitchen working. (Sometimes they sit in the living room or in Nico's room, but it's usually the kitchen.) But it's a bit hard to focus on understanding anything that Nico's tutoring him on, when his eyes keep attaching themselves to the pen between Nico's teeth or the steady bounce of his thigh against the chair as it bounces.   
  
Sometimes, Nico will notice him watching and just stare back, eyes questioning while simultaneously calling him an idiot. Sometimes, Percy is so entranced that he doesn't even notice. That usually ends in Nico having to literally whack him in the head with the back of his hand. (Another tidbit of information: Nico is heavy handed.)    
  
Percy knows that it makes Nico uncomfortable. He hates attention from anyone, even if it is his boyfriend. But Percy can't bring himself to stop. In the back of his mind, he chastises himself for indulging in such a habit. He tells himself that there's no point in knowing all this useless information, that it won't do him any good in the long run, especially not when Percy dumps him. Then the rest of his brain fights back that thought, and he questions himself. Could he really do it? Could he really be so heartless as to do this to Nico?   
  
Of course, he thinks. He's done it plenty of times before with no problem. Why should this time be any different?   
  
And then Percy sees Nico's lips press against the pencil in his hand, chapped from the cold. Or he feels the nubs of Nico's fingertips as they hold hands, and he remembers. Nico's different. Nico isn't helpless to him like all the others were. With them it was like stealing candy from a baby- not that he'd ever do that, that's just cruel. But with Nico, it's an endless game of tug of war. Nico fights back, throwing out lashes and punches. Sending out obstacles that Percy has to dodge to get what he wants, and even then it's not a guarantee. It's like Percy's life is a game that's had the settings switched from beginner to expert. Now Percy has to try, and as exhausting as it is, he likes it.   
  
So he tells the half of his brain that's against this, to shut up and take a seat, because he wants to know everything.   
  
And even if he still kind of has the urge to break this boy to pieces, he's going to find out everything.

* * *

 

Percy has been to Nico's house so often that he knows the layout of the entire place. He knows about the crack in the wall- made by Hades and hidden from Persephone under a painting. He knows about the attic, that Nico refuses to go into because it's apparently home to several spiders that Nico believes should be left alone. He knows about Nico's secret stashes of candy, the one in a shoebox under his bed and the one in his dresser under an old tee shirt. He knows enough the house that it's like he lives there. (And according to his mother, he does, as he's there more than he's at home.) But for as much as he knows about the house, he doesn't exactly have much a clue about the boy who lives in it.   
  
Nico has a way of surprising him with something new everyday. He just radiates this aura of fresh perspective and new everything that sometimes it's hard to think straight. Percy will just watch as Nico gets lost in something he loves, watching Nico get all tiled up over a movie, calling for blood or crying when his favorite character dies, even though he's seen the movie before. He watches Nico stress over every detail of everything he does, from school projects to a simple drawing. And sometimes he'll just be leaning against the wall, while Nico droops into unconsciousness, snoring on his shoulder.    
  
Percy thinks that he'll never be tired of this, because this is actually fun. Finally he has a word for what's going on between them. It's actually like they aren't dating at all. They haven't kissed yet, not seriously, and they barely hold hands. It's more like the two of them are best friends, and Percy thinks that that's okay. He's fine being just friends instead of boyfriends because being boyfriends is stressful. Sometimes he goes too far, presses over a line without meaning to do so and then he has to start from scratch.    
  
Like now for example.    
  
Everything had been fine a minute ago. Nico had been gasping with laughter, the occasional snort coming out that only made him laugh harder as he squirmed under Percy's fingers. Fingers that pressed into his side, tickling him and making him shake and wriggle to free himself. Percy had laughed along with him, trying to get Nico to calm down, get him upright again because he'd completely fallen over. Percy's hand reached for Nico's arm, fingers wrapping around his wrist as he tugged, a giggle still on his lips.   
  
That's when everything went downhill. Percy felt Nico tense, body going rigid, eyes widening in fear. He didn't so much feel the kick that was thrown out at his stomach as much as he saw it. He saw Nico's foot fly at him, as the rest of his body flew in the other direction, before Percy's abdomen was in flames of pain.    
  
It hurt like hell, as he'd learned from plenty of sharp kicks to the shin, that Nico kicked really hard. But the pain only lasted a few seconds, dulling to a small throb and giving him time to focus and everything else that was happening.    
  
Nico was across the room, pressed against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest as he shook, eyes wide, hands shaking. He clutched at the worst that Percy had grabbed, rubbing at it as if to clear all sensation of the touch. His lips were moving, quickly and softly, though Percy could hear no sound from him. But it was obvious that at the moment, Nico was losing it.   
  
"Nico?" Percy hesitated as he moved closer, wary of being kicked again but still needing to help. "You okay?"   
  
What a dumb question, of course he wasn't. People who are okay don't lash out and have panic attacks like that. Still, Percy had to ask, just to see if he would get an answer.    
  
He didn't.    
  
"Nico?" He reached out to touch Nico's leg, sensing that touching his arm would only frighten him, but even touching his leg sent him into another panic streak, flinching wildly as he tried to press himself closer to the wall.   
  
"Don't touch me." He whispered.   
  
"Nico-"   
  
"Don't touch me!" Nico shouted, voice breaking as he shied away from Percy. His eyes had lost that wild animal look to them, though they were still huge, but he looked to have calmed down a bit, just enough to realize that there wasn't any danger. "Just give me a little while, this'll pass. I just-"   
  
Percy nodded, sitting back and rubbing at his stomach. He wondered how much he really didn't know.

* * *

  
  
"Sorry." Nico sighed as he pressed an ice pack to Percy's stomach. The skin was beginning to bruise, an ugly purple mark that Percy would definitely have to hide. "It's usually never that bad."   
  
"What was that?" Percy hissed, as the cold ice made his bruise throb. "I thought you were having a heart attack. And what do you mean it's never that bad?"   
  
"I get panic attacks sometimes." Nico says. "My dad says that they stem from traumatic experience, my brain replaying that memory and making my body go into the same reaction I had back then. All I know is that whenever someone touches my arm, I freak out. It gets hard to breathe and I just have to either fight or curl into a ball and cry. I don't usually lash out that bad though. I guess it's been so long since I've had a meltdown that it just built up."   
  
"Traumatic experience? When did you-?"   
  
"Long story." Nico says.    
  
"Tell me."   
  
"Why?"   
  
"So I can help."   
  
"You probably can't."   
  
"Nico-"   
  
"I just don't want to talk about it. And even if I did, I doubt you can help me. Why would you even want to?"   
  
Percy shrugs. "Because we're dating. And as your boyfriend, it's sort of my job to help."   
  
"No offense but just a few weeks ago, you wanted to dump me and leave me crying a river. Now you want to help me with my emotional issues? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" Nico's brow is raised, arms crossed over his chest and Percy will admit it. Maybe he deserved that one. This is payback for being such a prick for such a long time. But this time, he seriously wants to help.   
  
"Nico please." He begs. "At least let me try."   
  
Nico glares at him for a moment, before he visibly deflates. "Fine." He throws himself into a chair, making Percy's eyes roll at his dramatic flare before he goes completely serious. "Are you sure you want to hear this?" He asks, voice meek and unsure. "It's kind of sad, and possibly a bit overwhelming. It's altogether just really tearjerking."   
  
Percy shrugs. "You went through it by yourself. I'm just hearing a story."   
  
Nico nodded, taking a moment to gather his nerves before he started.   
  
"When I was younger, I had a sister, an older sister. Her name was Bianca. She was, kind and smart and a bit of a pain but she was my sister so I had no choice but to love her. Unfortunately, she also had a knack for getting in trouble. She didn't really like to follow rules, and to be honest, that's probably what got us into trouble that night in the first place. She wanted to go to a party and I didn't want to be home by myself because dad was at work, so I made her take me with her." Nico chuckled bitterly. "I'm pretty sure I blackmailed her."   
  
Percy smiled. "Sounds like you."   
  
"Yeah." Nico blinked. "We got to that party and everything went downhill. I couldn't find her. One second she was there, right next to me, and then she was gone. I looked all over for her, even had some high school girl help me out. We found her in a room full of guys, real sleazy looking guys. Like the kind of guys who smoke weed for the heck of it and have a bunch of tattoos and douchey jokes. She looked so drugged it was ridiculous. I didn't know she was drugged at the time but now it's kind of obvious that she was, because no one is that loopy without a reason. She wasn't even dressed. They took her clothes off and she didn't even seem to care. I tried to get her to come with me. We had to go home. It was past curfew and dad was gonna be pissed. But the guys she was with wouldn't let her leave. Wouldn't let me take her with me, and I started to fight a little. I think I punched one of them in the face, and I remember spitting on another before one of them kicked me."   
  
"He kicked you?"   
  
"Yeah, almost as hard as I kicked you." Nico explained and Percy cringed.   
  
"Bianca came out of it then. I guess seeing me get hurt knocked her out of her daze because she started fighting to get away, and they just held her down so she couldn't move and I kept fighting to get to her and the whole thing was just one big mess. I kept trying to punch them and at one point one of them grabbed my arm really tight. He had a cigarette in his mouth and he burned my arm with it and told me to get lost but I  wouldn't leave.  Eventually they just resorted to beating me senseless until my sister yelled for me to run. She just kept screaming for me to leave, go find dad and come back. She said she'd be fine, and I believed her so I just ran to the police station. Dad found me there, crying hysterically to an officer about needing to save Bianca but he wasn't listening and I was losing it. I'm pretty sure I passed out at some point because the rest of that night is pretty blurry, but I still have a scar from that cigarette burn." He pulled the sleeve of his long sleeve shirt up to reveal a circular scar, small but there, on his pale skin.   
  
"What happened to your sister?" Percy asked, afraid that he had done so, because he knew he wouldn't like the answer.    
  
"I dunno." Nico said. "I wasn't there to find out. But the next time I saw her was at her funeral. Police report said that they found her in a ditch, her clothes all ripped up and her body covered in bruises. They said she was sexually assaulted. They still don't know how she died. They said it may have been the amount of drugs in her system or the repeated assault but it was so severe in both cases that they couldn't tell for sure."   
  
Nico laughed again, a bitter, emotionless sound. "It's almost kind of funny, in a sick way. That mortician did a great job of making her look good for the funeral. It was almost like she was still alive, like she sleeping or something. But it didn't matter. Everyone it that room she was dead. And even if they didn't know, of I didn't know, I still knew what she'd looked like then. She was horrified, scared out of her mind and I could have helped her."   
  
"Nico, you were like ten, and you up against a bunch if guys way older than you." Percy stated the facts, knowing that Nico wasn't one to like coddling. "There's no way you would have been able to help"   
  
"I should have done something." Nico argued, determined to make himself the bad guy, because he'd probably been blaming himself for this for a long time. "I should have called the cops or something. Instead, I just ran like a wimp."   
  
"You said it yourself, she told you to run."   
  
"Right." Nico scoffed. "Because the one time I listen to her, and she dies for it."   
  
"Stop that." Percy growled, eyes narrowing, the way his mom would narrow her's whenever she wanted him to stop doing something. "Stop blaming yourself for this. It wasn't your fault."   
  
"I know it wasn't." Nico hisses back. "I'm not the one who raped her."   
  
Percy stared at him. "Then why are you so angry with yourself?"   
  
"Because I was afraid." Nico sighed, sounding exasperated, like Percy didn't get it and he was getting tired of trying to spell it out. "When I was younger, I wasn't really afraid of anything. I couldn't be, there was never any time. We were always moving, so I just sucked it up, and eventually, I just stopped being scared. But that day, that was the first time I'd felt real, life shattering fear. I was scared for my life, for my sister's life. I've never been that scared in my life and I hated it."   
  
"You had a good reason to be scared."   
  
"That's not the point."   
  
Percy scooted his chair closer, wincing at the sound it make as it scraped across the floor. "It's a point. And that was years ago, you're still fearless."   
  
"No I'm not."   
  
"Nico, I sat next to you while you watched an entire horror movie in the dark once. When the people died, you laughed."   
  
Nico scoffed. "That's different. It's a horror movie, so I know it's not real. Besides, anyone who is running and falls over nothing and doesn't get back up within five seconds, had it coming anyway."   
  
Percy rolls his eyes, partly because Nico's right, and partly because he's managed to change the topic of conversation. "True. But that's not the point. I don't ever want to hear you being angry with yourself for what happened to your sister. Not ever again."   
  
"But-"   
  
"Nope." Percy interrupts him, determined to be a little childish if it means that Nico will listen and stop feeling guilty. "No buts. Never again. If I even think I hear you being upset about this,  I will squash you into a hug."   
  
Nico paled. "You wouldn't."   
  
"You don't know that. And if you promise not to be upset over this, you'll never have to. We have a deal?"    
  
Nico sighed in suffering, dramatically groaning as he held Percy's gaze. (At least he was back to his goofy, sarcastic self. Percy considered that to be a job well done.) "Fine." He sulked, not able to find a way out of the deal.   
  
Percy grinned, and the rest of the day continued without fault.

* * *

  
  
Sleep doesn't come too easy that night.    
  
Percy eats dinner without a hitch, takes a shower, and after a short bout of arguing with Gabe about stinking up his room- and the rest of the freaking apartment- he settles into bed.    
  
And then his brain promptly begins to overthink everything that happened earlier today.    
  
Percy's stomach throbs at the memory of Nico kicking him. The pain is nowhere near as bad as it had been, though Percy supposes that even if it had been, the pain would be worth tolerating. After all, he had triggered Nico, if only by accident. Besides, he'd only taken a foot to the gut. Nico had seen his sister drugged, undressed, scared out of her mind. And then he'd seen her in a casket, all the while feeling guilty because he thought he could have prevented her from being there.    
  
Percy's chest ached more than his stomach.    
  
He didn't any siblings, younger or older, so he really couldn't imagine how going through something like that would feel. Be tried to imagine how it'd feel if it was his mother, how that would have broken him, inside and out. He tried to understand Nico's feelings, only to realize that he didn't really understand Nico himself.    
  
He thought he knew all the little things there were to know. Thought he had every base covered, at least in some kind of way. He never could have imagined that not only did he not have all the bases covered, be had an entire field of bases to run through.  That not only had he missed some small details, he'd walked passed giant ones as well.    
  
Here Percy was trying to be break the heart of someone who'd seen their only sibling in such a disastrous state, had lost their only sibling to something so cruel. Percy had just been having fun. Nico wasn't. This wasn't a game to him.   
  
And suddenly, Percy remembered. This had never been a game. Not even in the beginning. Nico had even warned him, to leave him alone. He'd called himself broken, if Percy's memory serves him correctly. Had said that he'd been through a lot and that the last thing he needed was some jerk trying to ruin his progress. This was never a game for Nico, he was serious.     
  
Percy rubbed his head, internally wondering how he could have been such an idiot. Nico could have very well been dealing with some emotional shit when Percy was chasing after him. And all Percy had cared about was his heartbreak record, how many tears he could make drop before he graduated. Nico had strictly said that he wanted nothing to do with him, only for Percy to force him into a relationship anyway. Then, Nico had grown tolerant of him, had learned to be used to Percy even though he'd wanted nothing to do with any of this. And even after all that, after taking a chance and putting a little faith into Percy, what had happened?    
  
Percy had turned around and sent him into a panic attack.    
  
Not on purpose of course, but still, he'd done it and now he felt horrible. His gut twisted into weird shapes, guilt clawing at him from the inside out, determined to rip him to shreds before he would even dare to fall asleep. His brain conjures up the image of Nico pressed against the wall, eyes wide in fear. Fear of him, because he thought Percy was trying to harm him. He'd even lashed out. That was Percy's fault.  _Percy had done that._

And he hated himself for it.

Percy quickly decided that he wanted to fix his mistake. He also decided that he hated seeing Nico upset, and that he never wanted to see that distraught face. It was like all his views on life had changed. He was suddenly ready to protect Nico from everything,  as long as it meant he'd never frown again. He wanted to make Nico smile, and was determined to make it happen. He was so ready to change himseld to please someone else, even though he'd never felt ready to do that before. But nkw that it had haooened, Percy wasn't going back. He'd made up his mind. 

Percy was done being a heartbreaker. There was only one heart he wanted and it belonged to Nico di Angelo. And even if it killed him, he'd find a way to mend Nico's heart instead of ruining it. He'd seen Nico at his worst, seen him vulnerable. Now he wanted to take that vulnerable person, and bulid him up, take Nico from feeling like a lowdown mortal, to having him feeling like a god. And he didn't care how long it took.

He was going to make Nico's heart soar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the heavy, it was time. Also, just a heads up, the heavy is gonna be here next chapter too. I plan to have the next update ready by Sunday. But I think we all know that when it comes to updates, I'm not exactly reliable so please just bear with me here.


	16. The Miracle Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico had never believed in miracles, still didn't. Everything good that ever happened to him, he had to work for. But back then, everyone was so sure that his survival was a miracle. 
> 
> Nico wasn't convinced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I obviously missed that Sunday deadline I set for myself and if some of you are a bit miffed about that, I can explain. So I'm right in the middle of writing a chapter, I'm doing good, got a stride going....then the effing power goes out. And my computer- because I was using it while my phone charged, even though I usually update with my phone- didn't save the effing document. So I had to start all over. And after that fail, I just fuzzed out and gave up writing for that day and haven't finished this chapter until just now.  
> If any of you are mad about me missing the deadlines I keep setting for myself, I am so terribly sorry.

In all his life, Nico never believed in miracles. He just didn't. He didn't see the point in believing in nonsensical things when the answer was right in front of him. Not to mention the fact that every good thing that happened to him, usually happened because of him. He worked hard for everything. Got good grades, did what he was supposed to. He didn't understand miracles because he never needed one.  
  
On the night of his sister's death, he'd ran, scared and cold and shaken, all the way to the police station. It'd been raining that night and he'd been wet. Covered with scratch marks and a few bruises from the horrible scene he'd just escaped and the multiple times he'd slipped on the slick asphalt during his escape. His father found him shaking with tears as he tried to explain what happened, that he was sorry, that he tried. When his sister was found dead in a nearby ditch, body covered in ugly bruises and dry blood, his survival was considered a miracle. The fact that he was okay was considered a blessing. The fact that he wasn't having a meltdown was a godsend.   
  
Nico wasn't convinced.

* * *

  
  
They weren't supposed to leave the house.   
  
That's what their father had told them. He was leaving for work, so they were supposed to stay in the house.   
  
Nico had no problem with that. He was more than content to just sit in his room watching Toy Story until their father came home. His sister, however was not so content.   
  
Bianca was older than him. And in that brought trouble itself. Where Nico was happy staying at home and being boring, Bianca wanted to go out and have fun. And she'd found the perfect opportunity. A party being thrown by a few older kids from the school she went to, all the way across town. And she was intent on going.

Nico demanded to go with her. He wasn't afraid of much, but being left on the house on his own was admittedly a bit frightening. (It was an old house so it was a little creepy.) He assured her that it'd be fine, that he'd take care of any fears she had about their dad coming home early.  (He was used to covering for her on those nights when she left the house and didn't get back before their father. Covering for the both of them wasn't an issue.) It took some arguing, a bit of persuasion and even the threat of blackmail- he figured his sister didn't know what his daughter did when he was gone, and Bianca wanted it to stay that way- but eventually, his sister agreed and together they left.

Originally, the plan was pretty perfect. Nico had taken the home phone off the receiver before they left, trusting that the battery would drain itself before them or their father came home. (He liked to call and check up on them, and he grew a little angry if they didn't answer. Bianca had a habit of using the phone and not putting it back, and Nico just put two and two together. Hades couldn't be mad about them not answering the phone if it was impossible for them to answer it.) They left early enough to catch the bus to the other side of town, and walked into the party with ease. It was during the party that the problems began.

Somewhere in the middle of their time at the party, Nico found himself lost. Bianca had disappeared ages ago, and at first Nico hadn't noticed, but when he realized that it was nearly time for them to go and turned to let his sister know, all he saw was empty space next to him. Naturally, he panicked. He was only a kid in a house full of older, and possibly drunk high school kids, and he was all by himself, surrounded by strangers. The logical part of his brain was quick to take action, telling him to just calm down and look for her, ask questions.

He found her eventually, with help from a nice sophomore girl, but in all honesty, he wished he hadn't. He would have gladly changed his fate to make him just wander aimlessly around the party searching for her instead of actually finding her in the state she was in. Nico's only told the story a few times, but he's learned to leave out the details of how she looked, or how the room smelled like burned leaves, or how the boys around his sister looked horridly lecherous, smirking like all the bad guys in all the movies he'd seen. (Telling the exact details forces him to relive it and basically traumatizes the person he tells. It's better for everyone involved if he just forgets about the details and tells the story.) But while he chooses to spare others from his past, it still haunts him, as if it happened just yesterday.

He remembers rushing at his sister, shoving past a few of the boys around her to see her completely out of it. The smile on her face wasn't hers, too loose and carefree, whereas Bianca's smile was always tight lipped, as if she didn't really want to laugh. He remembers the feeling of the cigarette as it pressed into his arm, burning his flesh. He remembers the sneer on the boy's face as he was shoved down and told to run. But most of all, he remembers the fear that had shaken him to his core, the way his body had frozen in place. He'd looked at his sister, who had somehow come to her senses after Nico had gotten burned. She was squirming in her captor’s grasp, slapping at them furiously and telling him to run. Nico still remembers how frightened her voice had been when she yelled “Go find dad! Run Nico! Go!”

So he'd ran.

He ran out of the room, shoving past kids as he dashed out of the house. He ran to the closest police station, getting lost at least three times along the way because the neighborhood was unfamiliar. His father found him sobbing profusely at a police officer about how he needed to save his sister. His voice had been scratchy, his throat gone raw from all the screaming and crying. Hades had asked him what happened, where was his sister. He'd broken down again, sobbing into his father's clothes as he tried to explain. He never did get to tell his father what happened.

* * *

 

They found her in a ditch.

She was naked, covered in bodily fluids, dried blood and bruises. She wasn't even wrapped in a blanket, her body just laid out for anyone to see. Nico hadn't been allowed into the morgue to see her body, but when his dad came out from viewing it, he was in tears.

Her funeral was nice enough. Quiet, as funerals were expected to be. Bianca looked pretty in her gray casket- it was as close to the silver she chose for her favorite color as their father could get. Her clothes were beautiful and chic, just like those magazines that she liked so much. Her dress was gray and silver, her eyes softly closed as if she were sleeping. Everyone cried, and friends of the family gave their condolences. Eventually everything went back to normal. In fact, after the funeral, everyone was laughing and happy. But Nico couldn't be.

He wasn't happy for a long time. There was a while when he stopped all social interaction, with his classmates, his family. There was even a short period of time when he wouldn't talk to anyone. His father took him to therapist after therapist, each of them trying to soothe his ailments with their calm voices and their empty promises that things would get better. They told him that it was a miracle that he was alive. That the fact that he was still virtually okay was a blessing from the heavens.

But Nico didn't believe them. He wasn't okay at all. He had panic attacks, nightmares that shook him awake, made him scream. Sometimes his father would hear his nightly struggle and come lay with him until he fell asleep again. Other times, he'd have to deal with it on his own, and face the darkness of his room and his mind.

Nico believed in a lot of things. A miracle wasn't one of them.

* * *

 

Nico couldn't sleep. His head hurt and the scar on his arm throbbed for some reason. He couldn't decided whether his restlessness was because of what had happened earlier that day, or because he could hear Hazel singing down the hall. He chose the second option, figuring that it would be best to not think about the first one.

He couldn't be angry about Hazel’s singing though. The ambient noise let him focus on something other than the horrid pitch blackness of his own conscience. He knew that if his sister stopped singing before he managed to fall asleep, he'd be up all night long thinking traitorous thoughts. Not that his mind wasn't betraying him already. As much as he tried to keep his thoughts away from the incident from earlier, he couldn't make himself stop. He kept thinking about how freaked out he'd been, how he'd kicked Percy hard enough to bruise him. And all this just when he thought he could handle himself.

Nico had been proud of his ability to take care of himself. Hell, on his first day of school,  he'd socked a kid in the face for setting him off, and that hadn't even been a panic attack. He hadn't even been remotely afraid. So why was this so different? Why did he lash out at Percy when he hadn't done so the first time? He thought he was finally making progress, finally getting over the trauma. Was this some sort of setback?

And why did he feel so guilty? It wasn't like he'd purposely kicked Percy. He thought he was protecting himself, thought he was being attacked. His brain had convinced him that he was in danger so he had fought to protect himself in what he thought had been a dangerous situation. None of that was his fault. So why did his stomach twist at the remembrance of him hurting Percy? Percy had set him off, so what reason did he have to be upset about his actions?

Nico growled to himself. He'd never get sleep like this. He needed to talk this out and figure out what the hell was going on in his head.

Nico rolled out of bed quietly, walking down the hall and knocking on his sister's bedroom door. He heard her stop singing, the music she was listening to cutting off abruptly, before her door was opened.

“Nico?”  Hazel looked half asleep, her curly hair pulled into a ponytail. She tugged on the bottom of her pajama shirt, blinking into the darkness of the hallway. “What's wrong?”

“Can't sleep. Too much on my mind.”

Hazel nodded, opening her door a bit more and moving to the side. “Well, do you want to come in and talk about it?”

“Thanks.”

Hazel shut the door behind her as he walked in and plopped himself on his sister's bed. He'd never been in his sister's room before, but it suited her. The walls were painted a soft yellow color, the sheets and blankets gold and dark brown. All over the walls were pictures that Hazel had taken, some of them of friends and some more of them of just her. There were hanging lights all over, making the room brighter. It had a comfy feel to it, like a warm fireplace, and Nico breathed easy.

Hazel dropped onto the bed across from him, folding her legs criss-cross as she marked a page in the book she'd been reading and placed it on the floor beside her bed. “Alright, what's going on?”

Nico paused, trying to think of the best way to go about telling her what had happened. Beating around the bush wouldn't do him any good, he was never any good at being subtle. He figured it would just be better to tell her outright. Hazel seemed like the kind of person who liked to get straight to the story instead of trying to avoid it.

“I had a panic attack today.” Nico readied himself for the onslaught of questions and even a little angry mother henning from his sister. Instead, he got silence, really weird silence. Hazel stared him in the eyes, golden pupils boring into him ruthlessly. (That was another thing about her. If you looked at her eyes, you couldn't lie to her.) Hazel looked ready to murder someone, fists clenching before she calmed herself enough to ask for details.

“It was an accident.” Nico explained. “We were messing around and he grabbed my arm. He didn't mean to set me off but-”

“Who?”

“.....Percy.”

Nico flinched at the withering glare his sister sent his way. She looked pissed enough to punch something- not that she actually would, but still, seeing her like that was scary as hell.

“What?” Nico knew she was asking a question, but to him, it sounded more like a bit out statement, almost a warning, and he prayed for Percy the next time he met Hazel.

“Percy set me off.” Nico repeated, going on quickly when Hazel frowned even deeper. “It wasn't on purpose but-”

“That doesn't matter!” Hazel hissed. “I told you to be careful around him and now look what happened.”

“I don't need a lecture Hazel. I asked you for help.”

Hazel breathed in deep, calming herself and unclenching her fists. “I'm just saying. If you had listened to me, this probably wouldn't have happened.”

“Hazel.”

“Fine, fine.” Hazel muttered. “You had a panic attack. I'm glad you told me. But apparently that's not the only problem that you're having so I'll bite. What else is wrong?”

Nico sighed. “I can't think right anymore. That panic attack brought back memories that I thought I'd repressed, and now that I remember it all over again, I can't stop thinking about it. My head hurts and everything is just awful.”

Hazel hummed thoughtfully. “Well, that's kind of what happens after remembering something like that.” She shrugged. “ I don't really know what to tell you. Of course you know that the fact that Percy started this is only going to make me dislike him more, but since you seem to be too stubborn to leave him just yet, telling you to dump him wouldn't do well for either of us.”

“I'm not gonna dump him because he messed up. It was an accident.” Nico frowned.

Hazel raised her hands. “I know, I know. Still…”

“Hazel.”

“Alright. What do you want me to say? I'm not good with all this feelings junk.”

Nico paused- while also wondering of that inability to talk about emotions was a thing that ran in the family. “I don't know. Can't you just tell me that everything will be okay? That I shouldn't feel guilty for kicking him and all that emotional crap.”

He didn't miss the way his sister's eyes lit up,  a little smile peeking out behind her concerned expression.

Hazel smirked. “You kicked him?”

“Shut up, I didn't mean to. He grabbed me and I freaked out.” Even now, the feeling of guilt settled in his chest as he talked about it, like a heavy rock. “I feel bad about it.”

“Does he?” Hazel questioned. “Feel bad, I mean. Does he feel bad about what happened too?”

Nico shrugged. “I think so. He was quiet after it happened, and he just kind of stared at me for a while. Then he left.”

Hazel leaned back into the pillows behind her, letting out a slow breath of air as she placed her hands behind her head. “What are you going to do then?”

Nico blinked. “I don't know. That's kind of why I came to you.”

“I can't help you.”

“No shit.” Nico huffed, chuckling when Hazel nudged him in the arm with her toes. “So I came in here for nothing then?”

Hazel laughed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Great.” Nico sighed.

“Do you at least feel better?”

“A little.” Nico shrugged. “Talking with you for a while helped take my mind off it. But I'll probably be back to stressing over it tomorrow.”

“Then come back here so big sister can tickle the sadness outta you.”

“Um...how about I don't do that?”

Hazel rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Just because you don't like being tickled.”

“I like being tickled, but I thrash and you're relentless.”

Another roll of the eyes. “Whatever, get out you big dork.”

Nico huffed dramatically as he lifted himself from the bed, moving as slow as he could towards the door until Hazel threw a pillow at his back and he kicked himself into gear.

He laid back into his own bed and breathed deep. Yeah, he did feel a little better. At least better enough so he wouldn't be up all night. He still felt guilty, but it wasn't so horribly terrible. In fact, Nico was asleep in a matter of minutes, eyes closing to the sound of his sister singing Adele down the hall.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now I have to add some tags. *clicks the attempted rape tag* Crap. I am so sorry Nico, I made a backstory for you and I had to follow through baby I am so ashamed, please forgive me. Ugh, I'm gonna go cry in a corner now. I gave the poor kid anxiety. Damn I'm evil.


	17. The Vulnerability Vice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico's shown him his weakness, shown him that despite how strong he makes himself out to be, he's still weak in some places. He has walls built up, and those walls all have weak points that could make the wall come crumbling down with just one touch. Percy wants to break those walls and find out everything he can. But right now, he needs to repay Nico for what he'd been shown. 
> 
> Nico let Percy see what may have been his greatest weakness, the chink in his armor.  
> Percy figures that he may as well return the favor, and show some chinks in his own armor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first off......TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE WEEK, I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF!!
> 
> So this is chapter 17. God, I damn near sequealed the entire time I was writing this. Also, I'm thinking of making this a series. I'll explain more in the notes below, so just go ahead and indulge in some Percy and Nico.

Its a well known fact that Annabeth Chase is a genius. She gets good grades all the time, excelling at everything she does, because she's just that person. Percy kind of likes to describe her as a blonde Black Widow, because she's smart, pretty, and kicks ass.   
  
So it's not a surprise that all her friends come to her first when they have a problem. Percy will admit that he is exceptionally guilty of this. If he has a problem in school, Annabeth. He needs help in class, Annabeth. Gabe's being an ass and he needs to vent, the Chase household shall receive a call. Percy knows that sometimes, it annoys her. Like he'll call while she's watching a movie or reading a book, and he can just hear the irritation in her voice. But he can't help it. Whether she likes it or not, Annabeth is about eighty percent of Percy's impulse control, she has been since they met, and he can't just change that.    
  
So when he gets an impulsive idea about Nico, he calls her.   
  
Originally, he was just going to go along and do the plan anyway. He'd stressed about it long enough  that it was dang near perfect in his head.  He'd mentally argued over every selection, and choice until he found the one that would work out the best. But he was still nervous. What if his plan failed? What if instead of getting what he wanted, this whole thing crashed and burned and Nico hated him for it? The stakes were just too high.   
  
So after two days of stressing and trying to figure it out himself, Percy broke down and called Annabeth.   
  
Her father picked up the phone, answering with a knowing "Hello Percy" because who the heck else would call his house at almost ten at night? Percy didn't even have to ask for Annabeth, Mr. Chase just knew, and Annabeth was at the phone in less than a minute.    
  
"What did you do this time, idiot?" Annabeth answered the phone with a bored tone, like she was growing tired of this and just wanted to be left alone.    
  
Percy rolled his eyes. "Hello to you too. And I didn't do anything wrong." That was a lie. This entire situation was happening because he'd messed up and caused his boyfriend to go into a panic attack. But Annabeth didn't need to know that. "I just have a plan and I don't know if it's a good one."   
  
"Well?" Annabeth asked impatiently, when Percy stopped talking, waiting for an answer and not getting one. "What's the plan?"   
  
"Okay." Percy gets his thoughts together and breathes deep. It's fine this'll all work out for him. "So I may have found out some information about Nico that isn't exactly good. Something happened to him and I'm trying to find a way to make the situation better."   
  
"What happened to him?" Annabeth still sounds bored.   
  
"I can't tell you." Percy sighs, as he'd already decided that it'd be best if no one else knew about Nico's past until he was ready to tell. "But to give you a hint, it's the kind of thing that if he sees something that reminds him of it, he kind of goes into a panic attack."   
  
"A panic attack?" Annabeth asks, sounding a bit intrigued, and Percy swears he can hear the gears turning in her head, trying to figure out what could have possibly happened to Nico that would cause panic attacks.   
  
"Yeah." Percy says quietly, giving time to let that sink in because hell, he'd needed time.    
  
Annabeth takes another minute to think over everything, clicking her teeth before she talks. "Okay. What does that have to do with this little plan of yours?"   
  
Percy knows the answer to this one. It's a question that he'd asked himself repeatedly to see if his plan had a remote chance of working. "Well, when Nico had that freak out, he'd been really vulnerable. Kind of like a kicked puppy, and I felt really bad for him. I'd never seen him like that. He was guilty and sad and I thought he was going to cry. He hasn't told anyone else about this, but he told me and I kind of just want to thank him for it. This is a big thing for him, it's a part of his life that he probably didn't want anyone else to see, so I just want to show him that I appreciate him telling me about it, you know?"   
  
"I guess." Annabeth says. "How do you plan on thanking him?"   
  
"Well..."

* * *

  
  
Nico knew something was up when he walked into school and Percy wasn't his usual self. Everything was normal. Will harassed Leo and Leo retaliated. Cecil irritated Lou Ellen. Will tried to bring Nico into his argument with Leo, only to be shut down. It was just every other day. Except for one thing.   
  
Percy.   
  
Now that it had become an everyday occurrence, Nico had grown used to hearing Percy's loud voice calling to him as he stepped off the bus. He was used to seeing the same semi- cocky grin greeting him every school morning. But today something was off. Nico heard no loud, happy voice calling to him as he got off the bus. He could see Percy standing by his friends, watching him as he walked towards them. Nico was still wrapped in a hug when he stopped and stood next to Percy, but other than that, nothing. Percy was quiet, which wasn't normal. Even the hug itself was different. Usually, Percy's hugs were like hugging an excited bear. He'd squeeze Nico and grin stupidly as he felt Nico struggle in his embrace. But today, Percy's hug was soft, his arms wrapping around Nico's shoulders like he hadn't seen him in forever. Nico could feel his lips trailing the side of his jaw as Percy rested his face near his throat for a few seconds. Then the hug was over, leaving Nico feeling just a little empty.    
  
When Nico looked up at Percy's face, he was frowning, eyes not as clear green as they usually were, as if a storm cloud had passed through them. His mouth was set in a thin line, his brow furrowed, staring off at something that Nico couldn't see.   
  
Nico elbowed him. "Hey." He whispered as he glanced at Leo, who was teasing Will about something. Will's cheeks were flaming, the color of a tomato, and with his all black attire and hair the color of the sun, the contrast was quite amusing. "You okay?"   
  
Percy seemed to flinch back into reality. He jumped at Nico's touch, blinking at him as if he'd just noticed that Nico was there. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"   
  
"You seemed upset."   
  
"Nah, just thinking."   
  
"About what?"   
  
"You, actually." Percy smiled.   
  
Nico had to pretend that hearing that didn't make him the slightest bit happy. Giddy, even. Instead, he focused on the conversation, choosing to blatantly ignore the loud beat of his heart. "What about me?"   
  
"I'm sorry." Percy mumbled, voice low and almost angry, ashamed.    
  
Nico leaned in a bit closer, letting some of Percy's body heat rub off on him, because it was still cold and Percy was warmer than him. "Sorry for what?" He asked, as Will made a grab for Leo's head and Lou Ellen made quick work of calming them both down.   
  
"For setting you off the other day." Percy wasn't looking at him anymore, going back to staring at nothing. He was tense again, body like a rock, stiff and unmoving.   
  
Nico shrugged. "It's fine. You didn't know."   
  
"I feel like I should have."   
  
"How would you have possibly known if I didn't tell you?" Nico smiled, trying to keep the conversation light so it didn't plunge into the abyss of his past. (It was a skill he had worked at for a long time, so he was good at it.) His efforts amounted to nothing though, because Percy was still looking at everything but Nico. He was even beginning to scowl, jaw set tight like he wanted to punch something.   
  
Percy huffed. "I dunno. I just feel really bad okay? I didn't know about it, but I was still the one to set you off like that. You looked so afraid of me. I did that. How am I not supposed to feel bad about it?"   
  
"Don't." Nico advised. "Don't feel bad at all. You didn't know because I didn't tell you. There's no reason to be upset about something that you didn't know to avoid."   
  
"That's not good enough." Percy hissed, losing control of his quiet tone, voice rising loud enough for their friends to hear.   
  
Will and Leo stopped fighting, Lou Ellen narrowed her eyes at them and Cecil just stared. Will was the first to speak, always the most concerned no matter what, and when he asked of they were okay, Percy huffed and shuffled away. Nico watched him go, not sure if he should explain everything to his friends or chase after Percy. He didn't really get a chance to choose anyway, as the bell rang, signaling the start of school, and Nico was forced to go inside and go to class.   
  


* * *

  
  
Nico couldn't get it out his head.   
  
The way Percy had looked so guilty over something that wasn't his fault. The way his head had hung low, eyes full of guilt and repressed anger at himself. How tense he was. Nico silently wondered if that was how he looked when his sister died, all sadness and unplaced anger. Blame at himself written on his features plain as day, tense and uncompromising in his guilt. He knew how Percy felt. He'd felt it too, back then, and seeing it all over again in someone else made him feel horrible.   
  
All day he stressed about it. In class, he dazed in and out of the conversation, only paying enough attention to answer questions when asked, before he went back to staring out the window and thinking of Percy. In gym, he completely fazed out, and ended up being sent to the nurse after a particularly hard ball to the face. He walked to lunch with an ice pack on his forehead, and an aching chest- with could not be fixed by any medical solution.    
  
Nico sat himself next to Percy without even thinking. The action had become so natural now that his body just did things before he had a chance to react to them. Percy was quiet, poking at the school lunch mashed potatoes with his spoon. He didn't even look up when Nico sat down,  just kept poking at his food without actually eating it.    
  
"What happened to your face?" Cecil asked once he noticed the ice pack.   
  
"Wasn't paying attention in gym" Nico shrugged, glancing at Percy in expectation of a jab at his reflexes. Percy just looked at his face and went back to his food, still not eating, which really threw Nico for a loop. Percy usually had a bottomless pit for a stomach at lunch, trying to steal everyone else's food too. And he loved the mashed potatoes. If he wasn't eating them, then something was really wrong.   
  
Nico nudged Percy's arm with his head, pretending to be tired and laying there, using Percy as a pillow. Percy wasn't as enthusiastic to react as he usually would have been. He loosened up a bit, just enough so Nico would be comfortable, but otherwise, he stayed the same.   
  
"You okay?" Nico mumbled, so only Percy could hear. The arm he was lauing on jerked as Percy flinched, as if he'd been spaced out and Nico had brought him out of it.   
  
"Yeah, I think so." Percy mumbled. "Still thinking."   
  
"Your poor brain is gonna die, give it a break." Nico teased, sensing that Percy was lying about being okay and deciding that maybe a joke would cheer him up.    
  
Nothing.    
  
Percy was still like a droopy kitten, sad and still not eating.   
  
Nico tried again. "If you don't eat those mashed potatoes, I will."   
  
He mentally groaned as the lunch tray full of food was slid his way.    
  
"You know, I thought I was supposed to be the grumpy one." Nico raised his eyebrows when Percy looked at him quizzically, only to groan again when the only he answer he got was a shrug.    
  
He sighed. "Well since you feel so horrible and I can't think of a way to make you feel any better, do you have any suggestions because I'm lost here."   
  
Percy hummed. "Yeah, I do actually. I'll come by your house later to pick you up."   
  
Nico didn't get more of an answer than that.    


* * *

  
Percy waved to his mother as she drove off, practically breaking the speed limit. (No need to wonder where he got his reckless sense of danger from.) She was late for work and though Percy felt bad for being the cause of that, he was still glad she agreed to drive him to Nico's.    
  
Percy knocked loudly, almost pounding on the door because Nico liked to blast his music in his ears and sometimes he wouldn't hear. In fact, Percy was sure that he was doing that now, because when the door opened, it wasn't Nico. It was his sister, Hazel. Instantly, Percy went on high alert. Nico had claimed that Hazel was a nice person, but the intense death glares Percy had received from her showed him evidence of a little evil in her somewhere. She stared at him like he was a virus, trying to use her brother- and admittedly, he had been in the beginning, but this was different. Apparently, Hazel didn't notice the change. And if she did, she didn't care.   
  
"Percy." Hazel bit out coldly, a stark contrast to the calm, soothing voice that Nico said she had. Golden eyes pierced him and Percy gulped. Even if she was usually nice, she was still intimidating.    
  
"Hazel." Percy squeaked, mentally slapping himself for the vocal error as Hazel opened the door wider for him to walk in.   
  
The door was slammed shut behind him and Percy could hear Nico running around upstairs, probably trying to get ready. (He was definitely listening to music then.)  For the time being, Percy would be alone with Hazel. Oh boy.   
  
"So you're taking Nico out." Hazel started in on him quickly, glaring him into submission.    
  
"Yeah."   
  
"Where are you going?"   
  
"The beach." Percy gulped.   
  
Hazel’s eyes narrowed. "We don't have a beach here." That was true. Their town didn't have a beach. It was small, so it didn't really have much of anything.   
  
"It's in the next city over." Percy answered.   
  
Hazel nodded. "I saw your mom pull off, so how are you supposed to be getting there? I hope you're not walking. Nico hates long distance walks."   
  
Percy knew that already. He'd planned ahead for it. "Just a little walking. We're taking the bus though, so it shouldn't be that horrible for him. I'll carry him if it comes to that."   
  
Percy could tell that that was a good answer, because Hazel stopped glaring. "Why the beach though?"   
  
Percy shrugged. "Something I wanna show him."   
  
"Water? Sand? What could you possibly-"   
  
"Haze, can you stop interrogating? He's already scared of you as it is." Nico smirked, interrupting his sister's question as he flounced down the stairs, hands in the pockets of his coat. (It was apparently cold enough to force him to wear something heavier than his usual hoodie, though Percy would bet his favorite mechanical pencil that he was wearing it under the coat.)   
  
"Hey." Percy grinned, to whichNico replied sith a raised eyebrow.   
  
"You're in a good mood. Better than earlier."   
  
Percy shrugged. "Had some time to cool down."   
  
"Good. I'm the grumpy one andI expect it to stay that way." Nico joked, moving towards the door. "Later Hazel."   
  
Hazel waved at them both, though she still gave Percy a less kind smile as he walked out.   
  
"Okay." Nico started as they began the walk to the bus stop. "Where are we going?"   
  
"Now, we're going to catch a bus, but our destination is the beach."   
  
Nico frowned. "There's a beach here?"   
  
"Nah, it's in the next city over."   
  
"Oh." Nico blinked. "Why couldn't your mom drive us?"   
  
"She left for work. She's doing overtime to cover a bill that Gabe didn't pay."   
  
"Oh."   
  
They keep walking, the silence a bit uncomfortable when it isn't being broken by the sound of cars speeding past them. The bus stop is mostly empty, except for a little old lady with grocery bags. She asks them where they're going, and Percy tells her with a smile, still leaving the details out so Nico stays intrigued enough to play along. The bus comes, but it isn't the one the old lady is getting on, and she wishes them good luck with this knowing look on her face that makes Percy a little wary of her for a second.   
  
They sit next to each other on the bus obviously, shoulders pressed together because the seats are so close. They don't really talk, just letting the noise of the bus mask their silence as Nico stares out the window and Percy hums a song that's playing on the radio. The awkward ride continues for about thirty minutes, in which the bus loses half it's riders and gains about ten more before it's their stop.   
  
Nico complains about his hands being cold as they shuffle away from the bus stop, into the city. "What are we doing here again?" He asks, voice kind of irritated, like a whiny child.   
  
"You'll find out once we get there."   
  
"How long is that gonna take?"   
  
"I dunno. A couple minutes I guess."   
  
"Why can't you just tell me now?"   
  
"Because." Percy huffed. "I had this all planned out and I really want it to go right because I spent forever and a day making sure I did this right."   
  
Nico stared at him blankly. "You planned this out?"   
  
"Extensively." Percy nodded, trudging forward towards his destination. "I stressed about it and called a friend for advice and I even wrote a speech and memorised it and I'm trying to remember all of it but it's hard when you keep asking me questions so it'd really help if you just stopped talking until we get there. I promise I'll explain everything when we get there."   
  
Nico snorts, and Percy thinks he hears him mutter something that sounds an awful lot like the word dork but he stops making comments for the rest of the walk.   
  
The first thing that comes out of his mouth when they get to their destination is full of sarcasm and apathy.    
  
"It's a beach." He states, staring at the sandy beach before them. It is indeed a beach, sand and waves and all. The waves look frothy, like a storm is about to hit-  but Percy reassures him that it won't because he checked, double checked, triple checked and quadruple checked to make sure. There are a few other people wandering up and down the beach, a couple with their baby and some college dude with his dog but other than them, no one else is insane enough to come to a beach in the winter.    
  
"Yes. It is a beach. Montauk to be exact, though it didn't get that name until five years ago. It was originally named Gull beach, cuz the seagulls here like to swoop in and terrorize people." Percy recites knowingly, because he hasn't been here in a while but he still remembers everything about the place. "It's where my parents met."   
  
Nico turns to look at him, annoyance at the fact that they're at a beach, going away to melt into a solemn look. "Oh. Oh. Oh." He tries to apologize for being a brat earlier, but Percy doesn't let him, instead telling him to sit on the sand and listen to the story of his parents. Nico complies- though he does complain about having to sit, because now his butt is cold like the rest of him- and Percy starts.   
  
"My mom was in high school when they met. It was spring break and one of her friends owned a beach house out here so they cane for a little getaway. My dad lived here, and he was always out here swimming or fishing. I guess that's how they met, I don't know the details, but I think you can put two and two together and figure out what happened next." Percy glanced at Nico pointedly, waiting for him to connect the dots, and smiling when Nico figured it out.    
  
"You."   
  
Percy nodded. "Yep. Mom got pregnant with me. Her parents were pissed, but they didn't kick her out. And mom would still come down here every week and visit my dad. As she got further along in her pregnancy, he would visit her instead, to save her the trouble. But around her fifth month of pregnancy, he stopped showing up. Mom was stubborn so she insisted on going to see what was up, but when she got there, dad was gone. He'd taken off somewhere without letting her know. Guess he got scared of having a kid. All I know is that he left my mom alone with me."   
  
"What does this have to do with me?" Nico asked. "Not that I'm not interested, but I'm just wondering."   
  
Percy shushed him. "I'm getting to that, hold on." Nico glared at as he continued. "Mom freaked out when she had me. Especially when her parents died a few weeks after I was born. She didn't have anywhere to go and no money, and now she was a mom. I don't know how she managed to get on her feet, and to be honest, I don't think I want to, but I remember her getting depressed later on. I think I was in kindergarten and mom had finally gotten her first stable job. But she was always sad. Sometimes she drank, other times she smoked, but she was just never happy. She brought me here a few times and told me that she met my dad here and when I asked her where he was, she said she didn't know, said that he was gone. I hated him. I was only in kindergarten and I already hated my own father. Everything I know was taught to me by my mother, and I resented that. I loved my mom, still do and I always will, but I wanted my dad to be in my life, and the fact that he wasn't because he was afraid, well it pissed me off. Then my mom met Gabe and I couldn't take it anymore. I guess that's where this whole heartbreaking habit came from. I didn't see the point of falling in love of it just got you hurt. I mean, my mom fell for my dad and he left her pregnant with a kid when she was practically a kid herself. Then she fell for Gabe, and now she's spending all her time catering to him and picking up his slack like a slave."   
  
"Percy-" Nico started   
  
"Shh." Percy said. "Not done yet. You're probably wondering why I told you this. Why I dragged you out here in the freezing cold, to a beach to tell you about my daddy issues."   
  
"Yeah."   
  
"Well, I guess it's a way to say thank you."   
  
Nico stared at him. "I don't get it."   
  
Percy sighed. "I've never told anyone else about this. You're the only one. To everyone else, it's a secret."   
  
"But why me?"   
  
"Because you told me about what happened to you. And I realized that in order for you to do something like that, you would have to trust me, even a little. And I wanted to thank you for trusting me. You showed me a part of yourself that no one else had ever seen and I don't know, I guess it just struck me. I've always seen you as this strong person who didn't take any bullshit and the fact that you were willing to tell me about something that made you so vulnerable, I figured that it would only be fair if we were on the same terms. Now we both know something about each other."   
  
"You did all this for me? To thank me, ahen I didn't even do anything?" Nico asked, not believing what he'd just heard.   
  
Percy blinked. "You did something. You did a lot of something. You probably just didn't notice."   
  
"Notice what?"   
  
"You changed me. Not by much, I mean I'm still cocky and a bit egotistical and I have a habit of messing things and people up, but you changed enough for it to matter. When I met yoy, I only wanted to be with you, so I could see how fast I could wreck you. But the closer I got to you, and the more time I spent with you, trying to whittle you down, the more you resisted. You stayed strong even with me and all my bullcrap and I liked that. I told you about my dad because I wanted you to know that I trust you like you trusted me, but I also told you so see how much I've changed since I met you. I used to hate love and the whole idea of it. And now, I'm kind of Cupid's next victim."   
  
"Wait a sec." Nico narrowed his eyes. "Are you saying that you-"   
  
"Yes." Percy laughed. "I suck this whole love thing, but I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you."   
  
He doesn't know what he expected. Maybe a hug, possibly a punch to the face if this went bad and Nico thought he was lying. What he didn't see coming, was laughter.   
  
Nico started giggling, then chuckling, the outright laughing, laughing so hard that he started to cry a little and he was grasping at his stomach. Percy watched him the whole time, mesmerized by the sound until Nico calmed down, leaning his head on Percy's shoulder.   
  
"I guess that makes two of us, huh?" He whispers into the fabric of Percy's coat, voice low but still loud enough to be heard.    
  
"Y-you-" He doesn't mean to stutter, but doing so makes Nico laugh again so he's fine with it. Nico nods, grinning widely, kind of like a little kid in a candy shop.   
  
"Yeah." He says quietly. "I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you too."   
  
Now there are a lot of ways to make Percy happy. Give him food, and he'll be giddy, take him a Disney movie and he's like a little kid. Even just letting him stay home and watch television is enough to make him smile. But all the times he's been happy, don't even remotely compare to how he feels now.   
  
He's never walked on clouds but he's sure that he can now. His heart's in overdrive in his chest, beating so hard and loud in his ears that it nearly hurts. His body feels weak but strong at the same time, and his head is clear, for the first time in a long time. Percy doesn't know much about this kind of thing, in fact he's pretty clueless. But he thinks he sees the appeal of something like this. Trusting someone with a secret, and falling in love are kind of the same, because you have to put your trust in someone and hope that they don't do the worst thing possible. The risk is a big one, because sometimes, you get people like Percy's dad, who aren't ready to trust and run off, leaving you to be sad and lonely. But if you're lucky, you get someone who you can put your heart and soul into, and Percy likes that.    
  
He stares at Nico proudly, both of them grinning like a couple of morons, but Percy doesn't care because he adored this feeling, this person. Nico's cheeks are red, either from the confession or from the cold, and Percy's sure that he looks the same. Nico looks good enough to eat, bundled up in his coat, with rosy cheeks and a big grin. Percy wants to devour him. Not in the same way that he'd wanted to devour him before, but in a new way. He doesn't just want to wreck Nico. He wants Nico to wreck him too. He wants to wake up one morning with scratches on his back and hickies on his throat a sleeping, sated Nico under his bedsheets. He wants Nico in his head, his heart, under his skin, anywhere he can get him. But until he can manage to get Nico all over him, covering every part of him, he can focus on one part at a time.   
  
"Can I kiss you?"   
  
Percy watches with fond amusement as Nico manages to go pale, and then get ten times as red as he'd been before. He bites at his lip for a second, glancing away from him to stare down at the sand and Percy thinks it's kind of ironic. Of all the times he could choose to by shy and timid, he picks now to do it. Not that Percy isn't okay with it, he loves it, but it's still pretty ironic.   
  
"Nico?" Percy asks, because the look on Nico's face makes Percy think that maybe he's moving a bit too fast. Maybe he's not doing this right. Did he mess up? Again? Damn it, he should have-   
  
"Yeah." Nico mumbles, shattering Percy's self chastising with the meek sound of his voice. "Yeah, you can."   
  
Percy sighs in relief at that, only to start chuckling again, because Nico is still staring at the ground. "You know I can't kiss you if I can't even see your lips right?"   
  
"You wanna kiss me on the mouth?"   
  
"That's typically how people kiss Nico."   
  
"Shut up, I knew that." Nico huffs, ahipping his head away in a mock pout. He doesn't pull back when Percy grabs for his hands though, so he figures that he's already forgiven.    
  
Percy lets go of one of Nico's hands to reach for his face, gently turning Nico's head so they're staring at each other again, and he smiles. Both of them smile, though Nico's smile looks a bit more nervous. His body is kind of rigid, and he just looks tense, as if he's never kissed anyone before. Then Percy's brain puts it together.   
  
This probably is Nico's first kiss.   
  
Oh shit.   
  
He does his best to keep his calm, focusing on the red of Nico's cheeks rather than the God awful sound of his pulse running wild. His thumb brushes against Nico's lips, his palm resting against his cheek, and he can feel the small puffs of air that come from Nico as he breathes. He wants this, they both do, and he's ready now. Ready to be whatever Nico wants.    
  
So he tells himself to focus on that, as he watches Nico close his eyes, and he leans in.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember how I said that I wanted to make this a series? Well, I do. I realized that I had absolutely no clue where I was going with this whole Leo and Jason thing. To be honest, I was just kind of writing them for stress relief, and then it turned out that you guys liked it, so now I'm just sitting here thinking of ways to incorporate them into the main story and not really finding many solutions. But a few days ago, it hit me. Make a story about Jason ans Leo themselves. Like a second story that coninsides with the events of this one but it's Leo and Jason's relationship at the front while Nico and Percy take the background. I don't know how it'll work out, like, I'd probably have to make the first tow chapters of that story, the same as the Jason/Leo chapters in this one, but I would love feedback on the idea.


	18. The Pucker Up Predicament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His lips are still tingling, hands still unbearably warm, heart still beating too fast in his chest. Everything aches, but it's the good kind of ache, the kind that you feel proud of bevause even though it hurts a little, you're proud that the ache is because of a good thing. This is definitely a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just reread some of my chapters and I just realized that this story has a shit ton of spelling errors and typos and the fact that you guys are okay with that and are still reading it, makes me wanna cry happy tears. You guys are great.  
> Also, if you are reading any other Percy/Nico stories of mine and they kind of have cliffhangers, yeah I'm sorry. I'd been planning on doing them all at the same time but obviously, I've mostly been focused on this one. So once I finish this, I'll start on those.

Before, when he thought about kissing, Nico kind of imagined that Percy would be good at it.  
  
Not that he thought about things like that often, but sometimes when he was bored, the subject just so happened to cross his mind and it stuck. He's not to about admit to thinking about it 24/7 but it's definitely been a recurring thought for a little while.  
  
Besides, the idea that he is a good kisser isn't terribly ludicrous. It's common sense if you think about it. All the people he's been with, it just seems logical that Percy would be a mind blowing kisser. People don't like him for no reason. Honestly, the fact that no one else thinks about stuff like that is what seems ludicrous to Nico.  
  
But even if it makes complete and total sense for Percy to be good at this sort of thing, it's undeniably obvious that he isn't. To put it plainly, he kind of sucks. Here Nico had been, anticipating this amazing experience, only to be wooed by an amateur. How laughable.  
  
Still, even though he probably has no clue what he's doing, he's doing pretty well. And even though neither one of them know what the hell is going on, that doesn't stop this moment from being one of the best of Nico's life- not counting his birth, because being born is amazing all together.  
  
Percy's lips are warm and cold at the same time, a little chapped from the weather with a bit of a salty taste due to their closeness to the water. His hands are still holding Nico's, although Nico makes no move to protest when one of those hands moves to his waist and pulls him a little closer. Nico can tell that Percy doesn't know what he's doing. His lips may feel great, but they're pretty frozen in terms of movement, like Percy is frozen himself. Then there's the fact that Nico feels ridiculous because due to their closeness, both of them have to lean in a bit so the two of them are sort of squished together like a human jigsaw puzzle. His free hand wraps around the back of Percy's neck, which makes Percy shiver and pull him even closer.  
  
Nico's shivering now, though he knows it's not from the cold because he's still wearing his coat and the thought that something like this is leaving him this shaken, is almost enough to make him laugh. But he knows that laughing will most likely make Percy pull away, which is the last thing he wants right now.  
  
Eventually, Percy does pull away, because both of them have a dangerously low air supply and they kind of need air to breathe. But when Nico's done gasping for breath, and gets his head together, he can't help what he does next.  
  
He laughs.  
  
It's soft and quiet, because he still hasn't gotten all of his breath back, but it's enough to make his body shake and Percy notices that with a raised eyebrow. Nico laughs a little harder at the look he receives but waits until he's calmed down to talk.  
  
"I just had my first kiss on a beach, during winter, while freezing my ass off." He giggles and Percy laughs with him for a moment, before he freezes and stares wide eyed.  
  
"That was really your first kiss? Me?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Percy fidgets. "Was it a good one?"  
  
Nico hums, licking his lips- and then doing it twice once he sees Percy's eyes flicker towards his mouth at the action. Nico thinks. He thinks about the taste of salt on his lips that's been transferred to his own from Percy. He thinks about how warm his face feels and how nice it is to have Percy's hand on his waist. He thinks about how fast his heart is beating, like a drum in a parade, and Nico makes up his mind.  
  
"Yeah." He smiles.  
  
Percy grins like an idiot, so unabashedly proud of himself that it makes Nico laugh again. He keeps laughing, even as Percy leans in to plant another kiss on his lips, then his cheek, and his other cheek, his forehead. He knows they look ridiculous, both of them bundled up in warm coats, wrapped around each other, standing next to a cold body of water and freezing but stubbornly refusing to move. He knows that his face is red, can feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. But even though it kind of annoys him at first, how much Percy really affects him, it stops being a big deal when Percy's this close to him, staring into his eyes with the biggest grin in existence.  
  
"You wanna go back?" He asks, almost whispering even though there's no one near them that could hear their conversation. Nico nods, shivering, and he blushes the whole way back to the bus stop. They hold hands on the way, and Nico catches a few people staring at them with fondness. But his attention is quickly deterred when Percy starts nosing his cheek and laughing.  
  
They stop for food on the way home, because they're out past Nico's curfew and if they're going to get yelled at, they might as do it on a full stomach. And there's the fact that confessing to being in love with each other, takes a lot out of a person. Percy lets Nico pull him into a Wendy's, both of them laughing all the way to the counter. Nico starts to pout at the realization that he doesn't have any money in his pockets, only to beam when Percy pulls out a twenty dollar bill.  The girl at the counter laughs with them, asking if they're a couple and smiling when Percy answers with a lovesick yes. When Nico asked how she knew, she gave them both this knowing look.  
  
"It's this look you two have." She says, putting Nico's fries in a container. "This kind of glow. Like you would rather be here, in a fast food place and be together, than be anywhere else in the world by yourselves. It's kind of adorable."  
  
And as they're eating, Percy starts to think that that makes sense. He spends all his time with Nico anyway, and he'd honestly rather be here, in this greasy fast food place with Nico sitting across the table from him, stuffing his face with french fries, then be in any oasis, palace or castle without Nico by his side. He starts to think about how funny their situation is. Just a few weeks ago, he and Nico had only been in this for leverage, both of them trying push each other over the edge. But now, they're just...everything is just perfect.  
  
He tells Nico this as he's mouth deep in his burger, making him choke as a few pickles fall out onto the table.  
  
"What?" Nico gasps, his skin warm and smooth where Percy's hand is latched onto his.  
  
Percy shrugs. "I dunno. I guess I just like it when we're like this, not trying to bring each other down or anything. This is better than before."  
  
"Yeah, I guess we did kind of get off on the wrong hand." Nico admits, taking a sip of his root beer. "Probably would have gone easier if you hadn't stared at me all the time."  
  
"If I hadn't stared at you, we wouldn't be here."  
  
"True."  
  
"Do you wanna start over?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Percy shrugs again. "Y'know, since we kind of fucked up the first time. Maybe we should try again from the beginning. I won't be such a creep and you can be you because you're perfect."  
  
Nico smirks, not even bothering to counter the comment of him being perfect. "Yeah. I'd like that."

* * *

  
  
  
When they step off the bus, Percy insists on walking Nico home, saying that it's time he be a proper gentleman. (Nico just thinks that he wants to hold hands a little more. He doesn't mind though.) And while Hades does chew him out for being a half hour late getting home, he quirks his eyebrow at the fact that even as Nico is getting yelled at, he and Percy still hold hands. He also makes a pretty big fuss when Nico meets Percy at the door to say goodbye and Percy leans in to peck at his cheek. Nico shoves him playfully, telling him that he'll see him tomorrow, before Percy's gone, walking back to the bus stop to go home.  
  
Nico closes the door with a stupefied grin, face burning when he noticed that his father is staring at him quizzically, arms crossed.  
  
"Hi dad." Nico says, quickly shuffling past so he can make a break for it upstairs. He doesn't get there.  
  
"Hazel told me that you and Percy went to the beach today."  
  
Nico freezes, mentally promising revenge on his sister for ratting him out. "Uh, yeah." He says. "Yeah, we took a bus to the next city over, sat at the beach for a while, went for some food. It was fun."  
  
"Was it a date?" Hades smirks, and Nico is suddenly glad that his father isn't the kind of parent to easily ground his children,  because Nico straight up glomps him with a pillow.

* * *

  
  
Percy is undeniably happy. He is also freezing his ass off, but the happiness kind of overrules the cold. His grin could outdo the sun, the heat in his face could turn an ocean to steam. He's not sure if he's elated or maybe he's just caught in some weird rush, but right now, everything feels too good to be real.  
  
His lips are still tingling from when they touched Nico's, hands still unbearably warm, from Nico's touch. His heart's still beating too fast in his chest, probably somewhere between being a side effect of him running halfway home, and a side effect of thinking of Nico on the bus ride home. Everything in his body aches. His chest, where that horrible thumping is coming from. His arms that are still sensitive from the warmth of Nico's hands as they slid along his skin. Everywhere from his head to the tips of his toes, is a throbbing ache. But it's the good kind of ache, the kind that you feel proud of because even though it hurts a little, you're proud because of a good thing. This is a good thing.  
  
He finally gets why people are so eager to meet the one of their dreams. If this is what it feels like, then he can't say he blames the people in movies for doing anything it takes to make this feeling last. It's like being on a drug, except the drug has a heartbeat, and Percy never wants to go to rehab. He'd gladly be addicted to this. He's so fucking happy, it's like everything around him is some kind of surreal dream.  
  
Of course the sight of the apartment in complete disarray, is kind of a mood killer.  
  
There's glass on the kitchen floor, clothes by the door. One of his mother's flower vases lays in pieces on the ground,  water and white flowers spread about. The living room could be compared to a war zone. Pillows are strewn about, blankets on the floor, pictures that were once on the wall, now sit on the ground, glass broken on a few of them. And sitting in the middle of it all, is his mother. She's turned away from him, head resting against the coffee table as she stares at the wall behind the couch.  
  
"Mom?" Percy calls to her, creeping into the living room slowly. She doesn't turn around, but she does talk to him, her voice cracked and saddened.  
  
"Am I a bad person?"  
  
Percy sits next to her, moving a few things out of the way to make room. "No. Why?"  
  
"I'm not a bad mother?" Her voice is unsure, so unlike her usual confident self that it actually kind of hurts.  
  
Percy snorts. "Mom, you managed to raise the little demon that is me, into a fairly decent person. I'd say you're a great mom."  
  
She nods, breathing deep, before the next question comes out. "And a good wife? Am I good at that whole thing?"  
  
"Well, you dealt with Gabe for the longest without killing him, so yeah, you're pretty amazing at that too." Percy's quick to notice the way that his mother flinches at the mention of her husband, and his eyes narrow. "Mom, what happened?"  
  
She doesn't answer him, choosing to just keep asking questions. "So if I'm a good person, and a good mother and a good wife, and I've spent all this time a patience working for a good life, why do these things always happen to me?"  
  
Percy draws a blank. "Mom-"  
  
"I mean it's not like I did anything to deserve this." She interrupts him, frowning. "So I got pregnant a little earlier than most? I took care of my baby with what I had. I stole a few things to make ends meet but who hasn't stolen something at least once? I've never been to jail, I've never committed any major crimes. I devoted myself to my family and my marriage. So why do these things keep happening to me?"  
  
"Mom, what happened?"  
  
"I kicked him out."  
  
Percy freezes. "Gabe?"  
  
His mother nods miserably, and even though Percy is happy to have that smelly old man out of his place of dwelling, he's still a bit worried for his mom. "Why?"  
  
"He cheated on me."  
  
Now Percy will glad tell anyone who'll listen, that he doesn't get angry quickly. It takes a lot to piss him off, despite his restless nature, and he takes pride in being able to control his emotions, even a little. But there are times when he has extreme difficulty controlling himself.  
  
Right now is one of them.  
  
His fists clench hard enough to make his nails dig into his palms, and he can feel his jaw lock tight, teeth grinding. "What?" To his credit though, his voice does stay free of the acid that he wants to put in it. (Though that's mostly because he's saving all that acid for the next time he sees the fat bastard who cheated on his mother.)  
  
Sally sighs. "This whole time. Nearly ten years and I'm just now finding out about it. He didn't even have the thought to hide the clothes with the lipstick stains on them. Just left them out in plain view, like it was okay for me to see them because he didn't care." She looks like she's on the verge of tears, and even though Percy is pissed enough to go batshit crazy on the nearest asshole, he calms down a bit. His anger isn't the focus, it's not what matters. What matters, is his mother and her happiness.  
  
"You can vent about it if you want." He says, giving her his full attention-after glancing at the state of the room and thinking that she's probably vented plenty.  
  
But apparently she still has much more to say, because as soon as the offer is out, she's ranting.  
  
"Ten years! Ten years of picking up his trash, sleeping next to his smelly body. Ten years of telling you to just try and get along with him when I was starting to hate him myself. I cleaned up after him, paid bills when he couldn't, made dinner every night even when I was exhausted from work, put up with him and his attitude. And for what? For him to throw me away like a piece of trash, for some woman who probably doesn't even care about him. And even worse, I made you suffer with me! Just because I was afraid of what would happen if I tried to leave. I've been nothing but faithful to that man and this is what I get in return? And you know what, fuck past me for trying to help a man who didn't want to help himself. He was perfectly fine here in his little hellhole and I had to come and try to fix him. Fixing him is like trying to get  a monster to act right." She curls into herself a bit, limbs folding themselves to her chest as she laughed humorlessly.  
  
"And to think I thought I could trust him. I can't trust anybody."  
  
"You can trust me." Percy mumbled, flinching a bit when he was met with deep blue, angry eyes. His mother's furious frown softened quickly into a smile, one of her arms coming up to cup her son's cheek.  
  
"I know sweetie. I know." She stopped smiling, expression more exhausted than anything and she sighed. "I'm just tired of feeling like I'm doing this all on my own."  
  
Percy nods, because while he doesn't really know how she feels, he knows that he can help in at least one way. "Maybe you should take a load off." He suggests. "Call off work this coming weekend, and I'll make dinner for the rest of the week. We can hang out and watch movies on the couch together like we used to. It'll be just like old times. We can even make a pillow fort."  
  
Sally smiles sadly. "You? Make dinner? Remember what happened last time?"  
  
"I promise I won't singe off my eyebrow again." Percy sighs, a little relieved because a even if it is a sad smile, his mom isn't crying so things are looking up. "But if you really don't trust me near the stove, we could always be gross Americans and order pizza."  
  
That earns him a nod and wider smile.  
  
"That sounds nice."  
  
Percy stands and stretches, pulling his mother up from her spot on the floor and tugging her to sit in one of the kitchen chairs while he orders a large pepperoni, sausage and bacon pizza and- with his mom's approval- two desserts. Then he instructs her to stay seated while he cleans up the mess in the living room as goofily as he can. By the time the pizza shows up, he has his mother crying for a whole new reason, grasping at her stomach as she giggles hysterically.  
  
They eat in the living room, after Percy finishes cleaning it up, and they laugh at the misadventures of Andy Taylor and Barney Fife. His mother falls asleep early, and Percy tucks her in on the couch, before he sets to clean the rest of the apartment. He sweeps the glass up, mops up the water, picks up the clothes, sweeps up the vase pieces, and takes the picture frames down. Then he works on the kitchen, washing the dishes and putting them up, sweeping the floor and wiping off the counters. He finishes around ten, and he figures that now that he's done, he needs a plan for what to do next.  
  
He knows that Annabeth is probably pissed at him when she picks up the phone. It is the second time this week that he's called her this late. But he's only got so many ideas, and he has more worries and problems than solutions, and Annabeth is much better at this than he is. To his credit, she does switch attitudes once Percy tells her what happened.  
  
"What's she doing now?" Annabeth asks, voice laced with obviously concern. Of course she's worried. Annabeth has known Sally since she was a kid, the woman practically raised her. She was like Annabeth's second mother.  
  
"She's sleeping." Percy says, throwing away a paper towel. "She was pretty exhausted so I just tucked her in on the couch. Didn't want her sleeping in her room. Seeing all of Gabe's stuff in there would just set her off again."  
  
"Good, good." Annabeth mumbles, too busy worrying her head off to make a joke about Percy actually using his head for once.  
  
"Annie, I'm scared." Percy admits after a minute of silence, sitting across from his sleeping mother on the living room floor. "What if this is the last straw? What if she goes numb again?"  
  
"She might." Annabeth says thoughtfully. "I mean, there's a fifty-fifty chance here, so I don't really know. But if she does, you need to be prepared to help. Judging from what you told me about her wrecking the apartment and asking about her life choices and relevance, she may get depressed. Depression is a hard thing to deal with, for everyone involved. Do you think you'll be able to give her what she needs if she gets that way?"  
  
Percy glances up at his mother, her face relaxed but red and puffy. She has a bandage on her arm from cutting herself with a piece of glass. Percy wants to help, knows that he can do his best, but that his best isn't enough. Eventually, he'll have to move out, he'll have to leave his mother, and the thought that he won't be able to take care of her, honestly scares him.  
  
"No." He sighs heavily. "I don't think I can. I could barely Nico's breakdown, I don't think I can fix her. Not without help."  
  
"Then we need to find someone who can."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well..." Annabeth starts. "She wants someone who loves her and won't leave her behind, right?"  
  
"Yeah.."  
  
"And you want her to have someone who loves her and won't be a dick to her, right?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Then, you should find someone who can make this right. Someone who your mom will trust and will care for her even when you aren't there." Annabeth sounds a little worked up, the way she always gets when she has a plan in her head. "You don't have to do it so soon, because she's probably going to need some time to herself before she's ready for another relationship, but while she's healing herself, you could look for someone who'll treat her right."  
  
"So what?" Percy says, skeptical, because as much as he trusts his friend's judgement, this idea seems a bit off. "Find my mom a new husband?"  
  
Annabeth scoffs. "Maybe not a new husband, she won't be ready for that for a long time. But someone who can ease her pain would be ideal. Of course, if she did end up marrying this suitor, that'd just be perfect."  
  
"So we're finding my mom a possible husband." Percy says again, just to clarify.  
  
"Yes, Percy." Annabeth says, sounding a bit fed up with him.  
  
"Okay." He says, before he says goodbye and puts his mind to work.  
  
He glances at his mother again. This is the woman who raised him. The woman who made a snot nosed brat like him into a decent person. Percy thinks it's time he starts paying her back for it.  
  
And so, the plan was set in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some of you are probably thinking "they kissed freaking finally" and to be honest, I am too, because this chapter was the whole reason I started this fic. This fic was born because I wanted to write this chapter. So if you're squealing at the moment, then please take a second and laugh at the fact that I was mentally squealing the whole time I wrote this. Like imagine someone who is almost six feet tall- because I am- rolling on their bed like a kid at Christmas and giggling into their pillow because that's exactly what I did. Secondly, Gabe is gone! Thank the gods! Paul will be here soon enough, don't worry your pretty little heads.
> 
> Also, I have a tumblr. I don't know how to link it to the story like everyone else does (and if someone could tell me, that'd be great) but I'll give you my url: hades-queen13


	19. The Lover Let-Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy has never been drunk in his life. But he has the feeling that if he ever were to get drunk, it'd feel a lot like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, I know. This chapter is horribly short. Hell, I feel bad for making you guys wait this long for something this short. But this was one of those chapters that's essential to the plot but an ass to write so I am sorry for the delay. Just these two being romantic dorks, and some emotional thought in there somewhere.

"No."

"What?"

"Whatever you want, the answer is no."

"I haven't even said anything yet."

Nico turns his head to look at his boyfriend- who's pouting like a five year old. "You didn't have to." He says knowingly. "You had this look on your face like you wanted something."

Percy squints. "There's no way you saw my face, you were looking at the TV."

"Peripheral vision." Nico says, smirking when Percy pouts even more, because he definitely heard the silent  _you dumbass_ that Nico had added on.

"I didn't even get to ask." He's making that puppy face, the one that normally doesn't work on Nico when a two year old does it, but for some reason, works when Percy does it. Nico does his best to hold strong, but he makes the mistake of looking Percy in his eyes, and he just  _feel_ his resolve crashing and burning to death.

"Fine." He sighs in exasperation, because honestly, he finds it ironic now. Just a few days ago, he hadn't been this weak. Well, maybe he had, but he'd been able to hide it to some degree. Now it's just out in the open, he'd said it out loud at that freezing beach and he'd whispered it into Percy's ear in the morning before school started. Yeah, he's weak now, and Percy knows it. "Whaddya want?"

Nico can practically feel the smile that Percy puts on, can feel it shining onto his skin even though he's gone back to watching the Avengers try and save New York. 

"I really wanna kiss you."

And okay, Nico had been expecting a lot of things. Maybe a request for some food. Possibly a really dumb but also flirty pun- Percy had been making a few of those every so often. He even guessed that Percy might have tried to trick him into sitting on his lap- which he has strictly forbidden himself from doing until he learns to stop squirming when Percy's so close to him and Percy learns to keep his hands to himself. But the last thing he'd been expecting was something like that. 

He can't really help the noise he makes, somewhere between a squeak, a yelp, a moan and a giggle. Not when Percy's getting really close to him, basically ignoring all rules of personal space. Not when he's breathing down Nico's neck, purposely trying to derail his train of thought- Nico really hates that it's working. Definitely not when Percy seems to give up on teasing and just crawls on top of him, knees on both sides of Nico's hips and his elbows digging into the cushions by Nico's head. 

"Did I break you or something?" Percy asks slyly, knowing good and well what he's doing. Nico begins a vicious fight with the blood rushing to his face, refusing to blush, only for it to happen when Percy's face ends up being literally an inch from his. He could lean up just a bit and they'd be touching noses, and the very thought has his face getting even more red than before.

Percy looks concerned now, brows furrowing together as he backs off a bit, leaning away and then frowning even harder at the way Nico grabs for his arm. "You okay?"

Nico swallows thickly, still holding onto Percy's arm as he tries to calm himself enough to talk without sounding like a moron. "I really hate you sometimes." He mumbles when he's finally succeeded.

Percy laughs, pressing close again and grinning wickedly. "So that's a yes, then?"

Nico doesn't even have to answer, not that he gets the chance to, because Percy's all over him before he can even open his mouth to speak. 

For someone who'd been so horrible at kissing the first time, Percy's gotten surprisingly good in the three days they've officially been together. Of course, he's had practice, because no matter where they are, Percy always seems to have his lips somewhere on Nico's body, and Nico can't seem to be able to say no anymore.  But still, three days is a pretty short time to go from amateur to master, though Nico wouldn't really say master, but it's pretty obvious that Percy has gotten better. His lips are still chapped, like they almost are, but they slot easily to Nico's, like he knows that they belong there. His hands don't hesitate, or ask for permission, because he seems to already know that he has it. He doesn't use his tongue- which Nico thanks God for, because he's not sure he could survive that- but he really doesn't have to. Just doing this has Nico in a daze, grabbing for Percy's flannel and yanking on it a little to get him closer.

It's when they're pulling apart to take a breath, that Nico starts to think that the two of them are kind of stupid. They're on a  _couch_ for Christ's sake, in his living room. For all that is holy, his dad and sister are here- Persephone is too, but he doesn't care if she sees them. The Avengers is still playing, and they'd just been watching it less than ten minutes ago. Now both of them are panting and Nico's hair is mussed and Percy's fingers are caught in the belt loops of his jeans. Both of them are just big, ginormous, whomping idiots.

Nico loves it.

He loves the fingers that make his skin tingle as they slip under his shirt. He loves the feeling of lips against his own, sliding across his cheeks and then settling onto his throat. He loves the way he has to take deep breaths to stay calm as Percy presses a slow, chaste kiss to his pulse, teeth scraping for a second before going back up to stare Nico in the eyes.

"You've gotten really good at that." Nico murmurs, having to clear his throat because his voice cracks the first time. 

Percy grins. "Romance movie marathon. It was hell to sit through all the tears and crappy chocolate lovey dovey crap, but judging by the look on your face, I'm going to say that it was well worth it."

Nico licks his lip, even taking a second to nibble at it,  just to indulge in the way that Percy loses his cool for a second. "You learned  _that_ from watching a bunch of romance movies?" He doesn't believe it for a second, mostly because in those romance movies, the actors kind of kiss like two dying fish and Percy had basically just kissed the soul out of his body without even using his tongue, so there's no way he could do that. Not that quick.

Percy shrugs. "My mom says I learn easier when I see stuff. Guess she was right."

Nico shrugs and moves to sit up before anyone comes down and sees them like this. The living room isn't far from the stairs, and he doubts that he'll even hear anyone coming down if Percy goes at him like that again. Being caught by his father under his boyfriend, getting the life kissed out of him, is not the most pleasant sounding situation, and he'd like to avoid it. 

"How's your mom doing anyway?" He asks, not just for the sake of a desperately needed mood change, but also because the mention of Percy's mother brings back the conversation they'd had over the phone the night before. Percy had told him nearly everything about what had happened, and to be honest, Nico's worried about Sally.

Percy shrugs. "I'm not really sure." When Nico frowns and makes a move to call him an inconsiderate idiot for not knowing if his mom is okay, Percy keeps talking, speeding up his words a bit to avoid an angry glare. "I mean I keep asking her if she's okay and she says that she's fine, but you know how that works. Whenever someone says that they're fine, they usually mean that they are the exact opposite of fine. I know that she wants to be okay, but I also know that it's hard."

Nico picks at a stray thread on a pillow. "And how do you feel about this?"

"I dunno." Percy mumbles. "I mean, I know that I'm pissed, and that the next time I see Gabe, I'm gonna kick him where the sun doesn't shine so he doesn't have any balls to cheat on anyone else with. And I guess I'm kind of sad for my mom, because she's a good person, and she doesn't deserve this. But I'm also kind of afraid. The last time she was this heartbroken, she made the mistake of falling for Gabe. I don't want this to be some kind of endless cycle where she falls for one asshole, he dumps her and then she falls for another one.

And I don't want to come home one day after I've moved out and gotten settled into my own place, and come to visit only to find her dead on the floor because one asshole took it too far and she'd had enough. My mother doesn't deserve that. She's worked too hard to be a good parent and a good person to be stepped on like that, and the thought that someone would think that that's even remotely okay, sickens the hell out of me. 

But what really gets to me is that fact that I used to be like that, like Gabe. I used to use people to get what I wanted and then I left them to rot away until I wanted more from them. I just kept taking and taking and not giving anything back until they didn't have anything else to give me and then I gave up on them. I was a horrible person. I was just like Gabe."

"You're nothing like him." Nico frowned.

"Maybe not anymore." Percy said. "Thanks to you, I'm a little better. But what if I'd never met you? What if you never moved here and I never even knew that you existed? I'd still be the same, using people for my own gain."

"But you  _did_ meet me. And you  _have_ changed."

"But what if-"

"No." Nico slaps his hand over Percy's mouth. "No. You're not like that anymore. You're not like  _him._ You're different."

"Am I?" Percy asks. "Nico, in seventh grade, I told a girl I loved her so she'd do my homework for me. I dumped her two weeks later. Then I dated another girl, so I'd get more popular. After I stole all of friends, I dumped her too. I've done a lot of bad things to a lot of people, and even though I stopped, that doesn't change the fact that I'm like Gabe, or used to be like him whether I like it or not." 

Nico stares at him, not quite believing what he's hearing. He'd always known that Percy hadn't been the nicest of people, and that he thought that running around ruining lives was something of a hobby. But he never really thought that it was like this. Maybe he'd been a little too naive.

"See?" Percy sighs. "Even  _you_ look disgusted with me. Imagine how I feel."

"I'm not disgusted." Nico hisses. "If I was disgusted by you, I would have slapped you when you kissed me on that beach and probably kicked your ass. I just didn't know how far you had really gone with all this. It's kind of a blind side for me. But you're nothing like Gabe, I know that for sure. You may have used people for your own advantage, but at least you were faithful to them when you were with them." He's trying to find the good in this, to find a bright side to the situation, but he can't and judging by the knowing look that Percy is giving him, he knows too. 

"That doesn't make it any better." Percy sighs miserably, and Nico's had just about enough. He figures that the time for being nice about it is over, so he makes quick work of grabbing a pillow, and squishing it to Percy's face. 

"Don't give me that crap." He says, as Percy squirms to try and get away, only for Nico to follow him onto the floor. "You're Percy freaking Jackson. Yes, you can be an asshole, and sometimes I'd rather throw you off a cliff and watch you fall than be around you. But dang it, you're  _my_ asshole now, and I'll kill a man before I sit here and let you put yourself down. What's your name?"

Percy blinks at him. ".....You know my name."

"Just say it, I'm trying to prove a point here."

"My name is Percy."

Nico cups a hand to his ear, making it seem like he didn't hear. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said my name is Percy." Percy says louder.

"What is it?"

"Percy."

Nico smirks. "Is your name Gabriel?"

"No."

"Exactly." Nico smiles. "Then don't compare yourself to him. You and Gabe are two seperate people, but you're better, you hear me?" When Percy grumbles at him, Nico grabs his cheeks and squishes them, like his mother used to do when he wouldn't answer her. "Percy..."

"I heard you." Percy mumbles. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Be yourself."

"What if I'm not good enough?" Percy asks, voice taking on that meek quality again, and Nico presses a finger to his lips before he can go on another rant.

"You're good enough for me, and right now, that's all that matters."

 Percy sighs and gives in, relinquishing himself to Nico's control and laying back so he can see the TV. The Avengers has gone off, replaced with the beauty that is Chris Hemsworth in Thor- because it is apparently a Marvel movie marathon. Nico decides that Percy's legs are particularly comfortable, as is the rest of him, when Nico lays on him. They stay like that until it's time for Percy to leave, and if they kiss a few more times, no one knows but them

* * *

Percy has never been drunk in his life. But he has the feeling that if he ever were to get drunk, it'd feel a lot like this. 

His limbs are sore, aching from the taxing experience that is basketball practice. Everything just kind of hurts. His legs throb, and he's pretty sure that he's lost at least twenty pounds from all the running Coach Hedge made them do. But despite all that, he still feels really good. 

Maybe it's because he's finally done for the day, ready to go home and just pass out. Maybe it's because it's Friday and that means an entire weekend to sleep off the sore muscles. But he's pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that Nico is right next to him. Nico's fingers are entwined with his, warm and kind of soft with nimble fingers. His head is resting on Percy's shoulder, hair smooth and soft against Percy's cheek when he nuzzles into it. One of his legs is thrown over one of Percy's own- which admittedly, makes the soreness a little worse, but Percy can't complain. A little pain is worth it if it means that he and Nico can stay like this. 

 "What time do you think she'll be here?" Nico asks softly, because one simply doesn't speak loudly at a moment like this.

Percy hums. "Dunno." He says. "She said around 6:30."

Nico digs in his pocket for a minute, before he produces a small rectangle with the Deadpool emblem on the back. His phone. (Somehow, he'd convinced his father to buy him a new one. Percy had been the first contact he added.) He turns the device on, checking the time while Percy stares at his lock screen. It's not a picture of them, because Nico isn't one for liking photos of himself. Instead, the lock screen is a picture of Nico's sister, smiling like a goof. It's a good picture. 

"It's 6:25 now." He announces, clicking his phone back off and stuffing it back into his pocket. Percy pulls him a bit closer- something that he didn't even know was possible at this point- and squeezes Nico's body.

"What, you in a hurry to get home?"

"No." Nico shakes his head. "Just in a hurry to get out of the cold."

The idea hits Percy before he even thinks of saying anything, making his lips curl into a smile. "I could warm you up." He offers, making sure that his breath hits the skin of Nico's neck. 

Nico doesn't try hiding the shiver that hits him, instead trying to keep behaved. "H-how do you plan t-to do that?"

He's stuttering already. Good.

Percy shrugs. "It's hard to explain." He says, grabbing at Nico's waist to coax him into turning so that he's sitting in Percy's lap, facing him with his arms around Percy's neck. "But I could demonstrate."

"I guess." Nico smirks, wriggling to get comfortable. 

Percy composes himself enough to have rational thought. Okay. He convinced Nico that this is a good idea, even though Nico has no clue what he's about to do. It's cool. Everything is cool beans. Percy moves slow, lips pressing to Nico's forehead, cheeks, that little area behind his ears. Nico shivers again, complaining about how he's still cold and Percy tells him to have patience- funny since Percy's patience is at an all time low- before continuing. He trails pecks down Nico's jaw, and it seems that Nico finally gets what he wanted, because he's leaning his head to the side, exposing his throat, so Percy can have better access. 

 He's just about attack Nico's neck, when there's the loud sound of a car horn. Nico jumps out of his lap, both of them jerking to look at Percy's mom, who's eyeing them with amusement.

"Ready to go?" Percy can see the smirk on her face from here.

He stands, helping Nico up and grabbing his things, fighting the blood that's rushing to his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all of you who may like the whole Leo and Jason thing going on in this story, I am sad to say that I will no longer be doing that. Do not fret though, because I have made up my mind about this series thing. 
> 
> I'm doing it.
> 
> I'm making a series for this fic. One of the parts is going to be this story, and the second is going to be Leo and Jason's. I plan on it being a four part series, the two main stories and then two short stories. Now here's my problem. 
> 
> I have no clue what to name the Leo and Jason story. I mean sure, I have some ideas but none of them are really sticking. All I know is this: I want it to be related to Leo and Jason themselves as well as the story iself. Like for this one, I made it The Broken Hearts Club because that's what the story was originally about. But for this new one, I really have no clue what or where I'm going with this, so if you have any ideas for titles, you can comment them below. (And if you want something to happen to Leo and Jason, like a situation that you want to see, go ahead and send it to me. New ideas are always appreciated. 
> 
> Also, I really love comments and kudos, like I live for this ish, so if you wanna spam me, spam me, I'm happy for it.


	20. The Nightmare Nuisance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had them a lot when he was younger. Nightmares. Nothing too serious in the beginning, just a few little scares about the dark and the occasional monster under the bed. But after his sister died, they got worse. Much worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to say it now, if you didn't know by the title, this is most definitely angst.

To be honest, Nico's completely used to getting up in the morning without sleeping the night before. He's used to the long, restless nights, tossing and turning as he tries to will himself to sleep. And he's even more familiar with being shaken out of his sleep by either his father, or the dark, dooming blackness of his dreams. 

He knows that that's not a good thing, that he could probably be described as a borderline insomniac if he isn't one already. But old habits die hard, and once Nico gets into a cycle, it's hard to get rid of it.

So when he gets less than six hours of sleep for the entire school week, no one notices a thing. That's just how good he is at this. So practiced at playing off his own exhaustion that even his own father can't tell anymore. It should make him proud of himself, fooling his father is a hard thing to do. He's a smart man. But instead, it just makes Nico feel nauseated. He wants to tell his dad, really he does. Wants to sit down and talk this out, figure out why this is happening again when they thought he was doing okay. (He'd been taken off the medicine, he finished his therapy, he thought he was done.) But he knows what will happen if his father finds out. More meds to help him sleep- that will do nothing to help him. More therapy sessions with some stupid overly calm middle aged asshole digging into him and his feelings when he'd rather keep them in his throat and his head where they belong.  

He can't go through that again. 

So he keeps his mouth shut. Sticks to his routine and tries to sneak in sleep when he can. He knows he can't keep up like this, pretty soon he'll give in, or collapse. But right now, for some reason, that seems like a much better option than speaking up.

* * *

Nico glares at the red neon numbers on his alarm clock.

4:26 am

His head hurts, his limbs feel like sludge and his eyes are wet, probably red from the amount of crying he's been doing lately. There's sweat sticking to his face and body- mostly because the heat is on in the house and he's got the covers on him. His breathing is ragged, he thinks he's wheezing a little, though it's hard to tell when all he can hear us the disgusting sound of his own heartbeat.

It'd been so  _real._ Like he was right there, like it was actually happening to him. So vivid that it hurt, a deep ache settling in his bones. 

He feels gross, afraid, annoyed and angry all at the same time. The gross feeling is from all the sweat. The dampness on the back of his neck is starting to get to him, and he probably should take a shower before he does anything else- he's obviously not going to be getting those last two hours of desperately needed sleep, so why not? The fear is from his dream, where he'd been subjected to the will of his demons, shown things so frightening that even his own brain knew it was time to give him a break and wake him up. The annoyance is from the glowing red numbers on his alarm clock.

4:31 am

As if he needs to know that it's early. He's not an idiot, knows that this is a problem. He doesn't need some dumbass red numbers to mock him about it.

And the anger, well that's to be expected. He hasn't slept well in about  a weak, so of course he's going to be a little miffed. But more than that, he's so sick of this. He'd been fine, practically cured. The nightmares stopped, he hadn't had to take any more meds, he could finally go near a human of the male gender without wanting to scream for help- which was a good thing since he later found that he was very gay. Everything had settled back to the way it was supposed to be, he was finally normal again. 

So the fact that he's like this again, pisses him off to no end. He made progress. He'd thought he had finally been over and done with the whole thing. He'd convinced himself that that was the end of it, that he would be fine, and that nothing like this would ever happen again.

And yet, here he is.

Nico rolls out of bed with the grace of a dying platypus, shuffling out his room and into the bathroom to shower- because the neck sweat has truly become disgusting. He doesn't even bother to look in the mirror, knows that his face probably looks like he died and was dragged back from Hell kicking and screaming. There's no way for him to hide the rather impressively large bags inder his eyes, aside from either wearing sunglasses or makeup to cover them and neither of those options seem very good. So he just prays that once again, no one is as observant as he fears.

 Nico washes slowly, spending most of the time under the hot spray of water, trying to ease himself into an alertness that kind of equates to being awake. He decides to forgo any effort in dressing himself- not that he ever put up much effort in the first place- and just wear a tee shirt and a sweatshirt. He briefly debates putting on jeans, but since putting on jeans really means having squeeze his tush into them, and that requires a certifiable amount of effort, he settles for a pair of black leggings. He pulls on a pair of boots that he's had for two years- and has no idea how they still fit- and pulls his hair out his eyes. 

Breakfast is a plain bagel, with nothing on it,  because he's lucky that he had enough energy to put on clothes. Looking for the butter and the jelly and then opening them and everything else- that just seems like too much. The process of getting dressed takes him about thirty minutes, so he spends the next three hours on the couch, staring at the ceiling. Hazel finds him like that, sprawled out on the couch, limbs out so he looks like a starfish with his feet hanging in the air off the back. She doesn't say anything, though she does make a point of turning the lights on and watching as Nico struggles to adjust to the sudden banishment of darkness from his vision. 

They walk to the bus stop together, something that hasn't happened in a while, due to Hazel’s new boyfriend having a car. She usually rides with her boyfriend, leaving Nico on his own. Usually he'd be glad that his sister was riding with him, but today, in a state like this, Nico worries that she'll find out about his problem. Hazel has always been observant, especially when he's concerned. She's gotten real good at being a sister, taking mental notes and keeping tabs on him to make sure that he was okay and adjusting well to his new home. And while that's all good and well, it also caused problems for Nico himself. The last thing he wanted was for Hazel to find out about his sleepless nights. 

Not that he didn't trust his sister. He did. Still does, and probably always will. She's the best kind of person, caring and sweet to the point that she could give someone a sugar high just by being near them. But if she found out that he was relapsing back into his old insomniac habits, Nico had no doubt that she'd tell his father, and as much as he loved his dad, the man wasn't subtle when it came to dealing with problems. Hades would undoubtedly try to get him to talk it out again, which is exactly what got him back here in the first place. 

So as much as he hated it, Nico would have to keep his sister at a distance until he could figure out how to fix this. Of course that would cause a few issues. She'd probably think that he hated her for whatever reason, and his dad would probably start asking if they were okay, and Nico would have to lie and say that he was when he really wasn't. But this was for the best. This was his problem, his burden to carry. It just didn't seem right to push his pain off on someone else just to lighten his own load. It didn't feel right when he told Percy, and it didn't feel right now.

So when Hazel asked him if he was okay, he lied.

"Yeah", he said, trying to get himself into a position that was even remotely comfortable- because bus seats were the exact opposite. "I'm fine."

Hazel frowned, while Nico mentally slapped himself for using that word. If it was his father, it wouldn't have been a problem. But Hazel was a teenager, like him. She knew the meaning of the word 'fine'. She knew that when someone said that they were fine, it meant that they were anything but. 

But instead of saying anything, she shrugged and ran her hand through his hair, making him promise to tell her if he wasn't okay.

Nico really hated the fact that he was about to break that promise into a million pieces. 

* * *

 He _can't see. Either his eyes aren't open, or its just too dark, but he can't see a thing. He also can't move, his body frozen so his limbs won't react when he wants them to. Even worse, he can't breathe. But he can still hear. His ears still work, able to pick up the sound of cruel laughter, so different from the laughter he's used to._

_It's all around him now, surrounding him, mocking him._

_'You thought you could escape'_ , it whispers. ' _Thought you could leave me here to rot away. You don't find peace until I do.'_

_I'm sorry_ , Nico wants to say. _I didn't know_...

_'You didn't care_!' It's yelling now, furious. _'Where were you when they took me over and over? Where were you when I cried, when I begged them to stop? Where were you when they finished me off and threw me away like **trash**? You were supposed to **help** me!'_

_You told me to run._ Nico wants to scream. Say it's not his fault. He didn't mean to leave her there, he had no choice.  _What was I supposed to do?_

_' **Save me! You were supposed to save me!'**_  

_He wants to scream. Wants to tell her that he tried to help her, tried to get the police but that he didn't get there in time. He wants to say he's sorry, but he can't because he can't speak._

_And then, suddenly, all of his restricted senses come back to him._

_He can breathe again, though the air he gasps in tastes poisonous and burns his throat. He can kind of move, but his mobility is limited to wriggling because he seems to be tied up. He can also see, after blinking the black dots out of his vision._

_He kind of wishes that his eyesight was still gone._

_The person in front of him is obviously a girl. Her hair is semi long, kind of curly and kind of flowy like it doesn't know what it wants to do. Her eyes are the same shade as his own, a mix between chocolate brown and midnigjt black with flecks of silver in them. Her skin is the same shade as his as well, if a bit darker. The girl looks just like his sister, down to the scar on her eyebrow that she got from running into a kid in gym when she was in fifth grade. But this can't be Bianca, for two reasons._

_One, Nico is asleep. He's aware of it, even if it is impossible to wake himself up. He knows this is a dream, and that the girl in front of him may look like his sister, but it isn't. Then again, even if he didn't know he was dreaming, he'd still know that this wasn't the real Bianca, because the real Bianca didn't look like this. Sure, this version had the physical features down easily. Every detail was right, just the way Bianca looked before she died. But her eyes didn't gleam like that, and no matter how angry she got, she never screamed. The real Bianca had that quiet, motherly anger, this one didn't._

_This version also looks certifiably insane. Nico has seen enough questionable movies to know what a person looks like when something isn't right in their head, and this Bianca looks out of it. Her hair may be as long as Bianca's once was, but it's too frazzled, too frayed at the edges, like someone's been grabbing at it endlessly. Her skin is the same as Bianca's, but it's also too pale, like she's been scared out of her mind._

_He hates this. He hates seeing her like this even if he knows it isn't the real her. It may not really be his sister, but this person- this thing- looks like her, and that's enough to make him hate himself._

_He can't breathe again, his throat wrapped by strong, pale fingers pressing into his windpipe. He choking again, too dazed to try to breathe and too afraid to fight back._

_Why should he? What reason would he have to fight back when she's right? He could have helped. Should have, but he didn't and this is where it got him._

_He stares blankly into eyes the same color as his own, and slowly fades away. He won't fight her._

_She's right._

_He_ deserves _this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, school os almost over, so of course that's when my wonderful teachers decide to rain joyous hell upon me. (Can't ya just hear the sarcasm?) Nevertheless, this chapter is completed.
> 
> Also, sorry for the angst to those who don't like it. I don't like it any more than you do- I'm putting these two through hell, I swear, it's killing me- but think of how great it'll be. 
> 
> Think of the fanfic!
> 
> *sits to write more angst*


	21. The Exhaustion Embroilment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Nico is completely exhausted, Percy is doing his best to help his mother, and Will figures things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. School is out now so with some luck, I should be getting these chapters out sooner. I make no promises though, because I am a procrastinating s-o-b and a perfectionist. But anyway, enough of my rambling. Enjoy.

Nico is tired.    
  
Of course, that isn't really saying much. Nico's normally tired, especially on school days, and now more than ever. He supposes he can't complain though. He may not have gotten much rest last night but he did get some, so maybe the universe is easing up on him for a while. At least that's what he thinks until he passes out during lunch- again- and wakes up to a table full of worried friends.   
  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Will asks him again, as he walks him to his next class. Normally Percy would do it, but he had already been running late for his own class, so Will had volunteered.   
  
"I'm fine." Nico insists, really wishing that Will would stop asking him that, because the more he asks, the harder it is to lie to him. "I just stayed up too late studying."   
  
Will frowns. "Studying for what? We don't have any more tests until after break."   
  
Nico curses in his head. Will's right. This whole week has been void of homework and tests, due to winter break coming up soon. No teacher wants to grade papers over Christmas, so there was nothing assigned.    
  
"Right." Nico murmurs. "I forgot about that."   
  
Will eyes him skeptically, the same way Hazel did when she didn't believe him. "Alright." He shrugs. "Just make sure you tell me if something is off okay?"   
  
"I will." Nico says as he walks into his class and drops into his seat. He runs a hand through his hair- left untamed because he simply didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a hair tie- and pulls out a piece of lettuce. Damn it.

* * *

  
Percy has a lot of moments in his life where controlling his emotions gets to be very testing. Sure, he usually manages to keep himself in check, but there are always those times when he's so close to stepping over the edge, close enough that one little thing could set him off.    
  
Right now is one of those times.    
  
He thinks about this as he watches Gabe pick up his belongings- thrown into trash bags because it made Sally feel a bit better. Percy's mother is standing next to him, turned away from her soon to be ex-husband to glare at the wall instead. Percy can tell she's pissed, even if she's quiet, because her jaw is clenched tightly, her arms crossed angrily.    
  
Percy thinks that maybe that's where he gets his emotional side from, his mother. It definitely makes sense.   
  
Gabe looks sorry, pitiful, like a dog out in the rain. Every bag he carries down to his car- which Percy honestly didn't even know he had- seems to take a bit more away from him. Percy would feel bad if it were anyone else. But it isn't anyone else, it's Gabriel Ugliano, so he feels nothing. He glares when Gabe stops to glance at Sally, internally smirking when Gabe catches his gaze and shies away again.    
  
He glares even more when after Gabe is finished taking all of his stuff out, he has the nerve to waltz his way over to Sally and ask to speak with her.   
  
"She doesn't wanna talk t-" His mother stops him with a hand to the arm, sending him a glance that tells him to wait a minute. Percy glances at her, then at Gabe, raising his eyebrows. You sure?   
  
Sally rolls her eyes in the same way that Percy does when he's irritated, and Percy backs off into the kitchen. He only does it so his mother doesn't give him her mom stare, but while he's out of sight, he can still hear their conversation, and he makes sure to eavesdrop as much as he can.   
  
"Sally please." Gabe begs. "Please don't do this, I can't live without you." (Percy rolls his eyes. Where was that attitude when he was cheating all this time?)   
  
Sally scoffs. "Now you can't live without me? After ten years of lying to me, going off to another woman when you had a good one at home?"   
  
"I'm sorry."   
  
"So am I." Sally interrupts him before he gets to say anymore. "I'm sorry for believing you, I'm sorry for putting up with you. I'm sorry for making my son deal with you." Her voice cracks slightly, like she's seconds from tears. Percy doesn't blame her. "I'm sorry for cleaning up your mess. I'm sorry for paying the bills that you were supposed to cover. I'm sorry for making you dinner and giving you money when you asked for it. I'm sorry for being a good wife to you, when you've been nothing but ungrateful and unfaithful. And I am especially sorry for the next woman who ends up being stuck with you."   
  
"Sally-"   
  
"Get out Gabe. Now." Any other time and hearing those words would make Percy jump for joy. Gabe finally leaving? If there was any proof of a God, it would be evident right now.  But hearing his mother this way doesn't make him happy. If anything, it makes him want to cry with her. She's such a good person. Such a strong person. She doesn't deserve to be treated this way by anyone, she deserves to be standing on a pedestal in front of an adoring crowd, with a crown on her head and a grin on her face. Instead she's standing inches from the man who wronged her for so long, and moments away from breaking down.    
  
There's a shuffling sound, a bit of sniffling that Percy is sure is coming from Gabe because only he could manage to sound like sniveling pig when crying. For a second Percy wonders why Gabe is even crying. Did he really think he would get away with this? That his mother would just be okay with him going out and seeing someone else when she was home working her ass off? He got himself into this, Percy doesn't see any use in crying now.   
  
The door opens and closes, opening softly and then slamming, leaving the apartment almost completely silent, save for the sound of the heater and the quiet sobs of Percy's mother. When Percy rounds the corner, she's slowly sliding down the wall, tears streaming down her face as she hits the floor. Her knees are pressed to her chest, and she looks lost, like a child who wandered off and doesn't know how to get home.    
  
Percy slides down next to her, wrapping her into a hug, the way she used to do for him when he cried.    
  
"I did the right thing right?" It's a softly spoken question, Sally's voice muffled by her knees. "I didn't just make the dumbest decision ever, did I?"   
  
"What? No." Even the idea that that might have been the wrong thing to do, it sickens him. "Gabe was bad for you mom. You did the right thing, I know you did."   
  
"What am I supposed to do now?"   
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
Sally shrugs, coming out of her hidey hole, to peer at Percy quizzically. "Ten whole years of taking care of someone. Cooking and cleaning and just being used to having someone around. How am I just supposed to get over that?"   
  
"You still have me.." Percy tried, though as he said it, it didn't sound like a very good thing. He could be pretty stressful to deal with.   
  
"Yeah, I do don't I?" His mother didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that it would just be them. She smiled, if a little warily, and ran her hands through his hair. "I always do. My big strong man, huh?"   
  
"Mom..."   
  
Sally snorted. "Right, sorry. I forgot you hate that." Her hands were gone too soon, so Percy pulled them back with a smile. If his mom could bear being near such a horrible person for so long, he figured he could manage a few embarrassing pet names.

* * *

  
"Alright people, any idea why I called you here?"   
  
Leo shrugged, twiddling a pen in his hand, while Jason blinked in confusion. "You mean we're not just here to hang out?"   
  
"No." Will sighed.    
  
Cecil piped up through a mouth full of cheese puffs. "I thought we were here for snacks. That's why I showed up."   
  
"That's all you ever show up for." Will argued. Cecil said something back, probably something about food being the only thing that mattered, but it was too muffled by the cheese puffs to understand.    
  
"Are we here to study?" Percy asked from his place on the living room floor. He was the only one actually paying attention other than Jason. "That would be pretty helpful right now, since my grades are still kind of crap."   
  
"You can get them up after winter break, and no, we are not here to study."   
  
"We're here about Nico aren't we?" Lou Ellen sighed from her place on the sofa, her legs in the air and her head on the floor.   
  
"Yes." Will grinned. "Finally, someone figured it out."   
  
"Just thought it was obvious since he's the only one not here." Lou Ellen shrugged.    
  
"Wait." Percy said. "Something's wrong with Nico?"   
  
"You didn't notice?" Will deadpanned, literally a second away from giving up. Will couldn't see how Nico could stand Percy sometimes. He was dense at the worst of times. "You're the one who's always around him."   
  
"He's been kind of shutting me out lately." Percy mumbled, sounding like he was feeling a bit disheartened. "Can't get near him without getting glared at or something."   
  
"He's been shutting us all out." Lou Ellen said. "I asked him if he was okay, cause he looked like a zombie, and he snapped at me."   
  
"Maybe because you called him a zombie." Jason mumbled.   
  
"I did not call him a zombie." Lou Ellen said defensively. "I said he looked like one. Big difference. Besides, we talk to each other like that all the time, right Will?"   
  
Will shrugs. "I know something is wrong, something that is bothering him. But he won't tell me, and I'm a little worried."   
  
"I could ask him, but I doubt he'll tell me." Percy said. "He's pretty stubborn about keeping his problems to himself. And with the recent attitude he's had, I'd be worried for my personal health."   
  
"Who's worried for their personal health?" Will's mother asked, peeking in from the kitchen as she stood with the refrigerator open.    
  
"No one mom." Will said quickly.   
  
"Nonsense." His mother smiled, shutting the fridge and walking over. "I heard that, I'm not deaf Willy. Now come on, spill it."   
  
"It really isn't that-" his mother's stare made him falter. "It's about Nico."   
  
"That the one with the longish hair and smart mouth?"   
  
"Yep." Percy says, popping the 'p' in yep.   
  
"What's wrong?"   
  
"That's the problem." Will frowned. "We don't know. And Nico's too stubborn to tell us on his own. And we're kind of afraid that if we press him to tell us, that he'll snap at us."   
  
Will's mother frowned. "Maybe he's just afraid to come out and say what's wrong. Maybe you should approach him about it, and don't take no for an answer."   
  
"No offense Ms. Solace, but Nico is pretty stubborn." Leo piped up. "Getting him to talk won't be that easy."   
  
Percy groaned, burying his face into the carpet. "I've done it before." He said, voice muffled. "But it took some haggling and a bit of begging to do it."   
  
Will raised an eyebrow. "Think you could do it again?"   
  
"I told you, he's acting like he hates me or something. Can't even get a hug anymore." Percy moped while Jason stared at him, half pensive and half sympathetic.    
  
"But you did it once." Leo reasoned. "If he was in a better mood, you could do it again?"   
  
Percy shrugged, the movement kind of sluggish. "I could try."   
  
"Alright, it's settled." Will sighed. "We'll get him over here and have a hangout day, then when he's in a better mood, we'll see how he's doing."   
  
"Feels like we're doing an intervention." Lou Ellen mumbled. "He's sad, not a drug addict."   
  
"It's kind of an intervention." Will shrugged.   
  
"And you think having an intervention with our recently mopey, and notoriously tough friend will help him?"   
  
"I dunno." Will groaned. "Stop trying to turn this into a bad idea will you? I'm skeptical enough as it is, I don't need you to make it worse. This might help him and it might not, but seeing as there's a fifty percent chance that it will, I'm trying to be positive."   
  
Jason narrows his eyes in Will's direction. "Y'know, for someone in the outcast group, you're refreshingly optimistic."   
  
"That's what happens when you're friends with a bunch of pessimists."   
  
"It's not because of us." Leo smirks. "It's the hair. He has the spirit of Rapunzel. It makes it impossible for him to think bad thoughts."   
  
Will smirked back. "Really? Because right now, I'm thinking of some pretty bad things that I could do to you. Just to let you know, most of them end with you eight feet under."   
  
"The term is six feet under." Lou Ellen said matter of factly.   
  
"I know." Will grinned wickedly. "I'm gonna shove him down two more feet."   
  
Will's mother clicked her tongue. "I'm going to go before I witness a murder. Good luck with your friend."   
  
"Thanks mom." Will said as she walked away, cracking his knuckles and glaring at Leo, while simultaneously thinking that they were going to need a lot more than luck to pull this off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I know I said enough of my rambling, but I'm about to ramble some more. In about a week, I will be going to my grandmother's house for an indefinite amount of time. During this time, I will do my best to write the next few chapters, as to make up for it. I will nost likely not be updating during that week, due to family activities. Sorry.


End file.
